Airline’s aims in Pacific

Press, 10 April 1987, Page 20

Airline’s aims in Pacific

A letter to the Editor from Mr K. G. Talbot recently on a proposal by Qantas to be allowed to run trans-Pacific services out of New Zealand has prompted a reply from Mr K. J. Reid, the manager southern area for Qantas. Mr Reid writes: “Mr Talbot seems to have missed the point of Qantas seeking the opportunity of flying to and from the United States of America. The main objective of this request is to accelerate tourism from North America to the south-west Pacific.

“Qantas estimates that with the additional attraction of New Zealand afforded by such flights, it would enable this country to gain at least 15,000 additional North American visitors. These addivisitors will inject |^ ny

more millions of dollars into the economies of both New Zealand and Australia.

“Qantas is the leading promoter in North America of the south-west Pacific. We have sales staff based in 25 cities in the United States and Canada.

“We spend in excess of SNZ7O million each year promoting travel to this part of the world. We operate 20 flights per week to and from America to bring into New Zealand large numbers of Americans through Australia. “Air New Zealand already has rights to fly from Australia to the United States. The airline heavily promotes travel to North America in Australia and on its same plane services uses through flight numbers. Air New Zealand has rights to fly to nine Au^ a ’

lian gateways and is seeking permission to serve an additional city.

“In comparison, Qantas flys to only three points in New Zealand arid has no access to fly from Australia to North America via New Zealand. The population of Australia is 17 million and this gives Air New Zealand a substantial population base to extract additional revenue while in New Zealand, Qantas has a population base of 3.5 million.

“Of the major airlines flying the Pacific, only Qantas is precluded from mounting flights from Australia to the United States via New Zealand. By granting the rights that we seek, it would put Qantas on an equal footing with its major Pacific competition.”