Airline makes commitment to quality

Press, 31 March 1989, Page 24

Airline makes commitment to quality

There has been rather a lot of spitting and drinking of wines in the Air New Zealand boardroom in Auckland of late. It has had nothing at all to do with previously reported international takeovers or the like; in fact, if anything it was all in competitiveness. The airline business is rather competitive these days, you see, and airlines have to look constantly at upgrading facilities. One of Air New Zealand’s greatest recent changes was to increase its business-class seating from 16 seats to 56 seats on all international

Wine

with Phillip Pye flights. This will certainly see more premium New Zealand wine being served and introduced to

people from other countries. Another great move by Air New Zealand recently was the appointment of their new wine consultants, John Buck and John Comerford. Mr Buck is known to many as the force behind his Te Mata Estate vineyard at Havelock North and he has been a wine judge since 1969, both in New Zealand and Australia. Mr Comerford, a Lower Hutt solicitor, has been chairman of judges of the Air New Zealand wine awards and its predecessor, the National Wine Competition, since 1986. He has been judging in

New Zealand since 1979, and recently has judged in Australia. Both men are highly respected in the wine industry for their integrity as judges, and we can be assured that the 32,000 cases of New Zealand wine that are used by our own national carrier ever year are going to be the very best our country can offer. Mr Buck and Mr Comerford plan to scour the country later this year in search of likely candidates for panelists and judges. I attended a lunch with both at Air New Zealand’s Mangere training centre recently

and was given a taste of what one may expect from the airline on an international flight at 41,000 feet. Believe me, other international carriers are going to have to be superb to match it. If you are like most and pay the economy fare you are likely to be served wines like the Villa Maria Chardonnay 1987 and the Montana 1986 Marlborough Cabernet Sauvignon. Air New Zealand will accept wines only where there is a minimum of 500 dozen bottles available for this class.