Third Tasman airline solution?

Press, 13 April 1989, Page 2

Third Tasman airline solution?

By

CULLEN SMITH

A Christchurch businessman who has spent three years battling to establish his own Tasman budget airline believes Ansett New Zealand will be forced to quit the country. Mr Brooke McKenzie first put his proposal to the Government in October, 1985, amid the fresh winds of deregulation. Since then he has been frustrated by the issues of bilateral landing rights and passenger quotas shared solely between Air New Zealand and Qantas. Now, with the sale of Air New 1 Zealand to the Brierley-Qantas consortium and Ansett’s crisis over losing its domestic passenger feed from Qantas, Mr McKenzie is pushing a third Tasman airline as a solution. Mr McKenzie has had informal

talks with Ansett and would be pleased to link his Australia New Zealand Air Marketing Corporation plan with the airline to regain lost Qantas business. But Mr McKenzie is not optimistic about the chances of breaking the tight Qantas-Air New Zealand grip on Tasman passenger quotas. “I believe Ansett will leave New Zealand,” he said last evening. “I believe, the Government hasn’t got the guts to grant part of the traffic rights of Air New Zealand.” Mr McKenzie said it was known the Australian Government was happy to let another airline fly the Tasman, “as long as the passenger quota comes out of Air New Zealand’s share of the current monopoly agreement they have with Qantas.” He said there had been specula-

tion the New Zealand Government had sold bilateral rights with the Air New Zealand package. “If that is the case, then really it is a Government endorsement of private enterprise monopoly,” Mr McKenzie said. The ANZAM plan, which would involve leasing three aircraft — possibly Boeing 757 s — to provide a link between Christchurch, Auckland and Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, could be running within six months of licence approval. Mr McKenzie has kept in touch with overseas aircraft leasing companies and has a list of prospective staff, including pilots, who have indicated their availability. “My argument all along has been that the Government let Ansett come here in the first place. They automatically took part of Air New Zealand’s internal passenger quota.