Issue 101: October 1994

The primary barrier that had of course to be dismantled was the thorny problem of CIQ – Customs, Immigration and Quarantine. To make a seamless trans Tasman aviation policy work all agreed from day one that the three operators concerned (Qantas, Air NZ and Ansett) would have to be able to fly between their domestic terminals to make it viable. For a Kiwi it would have to be just as convenient to fly between Christchurch and Townsville as it is to fly between his home and say, Wellington. And vice versa for 17 million Australians who presently have only three real exit points to just three entry points between two nations that could easily boast a dozen from the Australian side alone.

What the precise problems are with the CIQ issue is difficult to gather. It seems that the more people we speak with the more accusations of disinterest from ‘the other side’ come to the fore. Overall though, it appears that it boils down to an age old case of simply not enough people at any level, being truly interested in opening up this potentially vast market. Okay, it’s low yield but so are more than half the routes these airlines serve anyway so what’s new? You just tailor your product to suit the market rather than the other way round, a simple fact of economic life that often appears to be beyond the comprehension of airline managements both here and abroad.

The combined market between the two countries is roughly 22 million people. Both Australians and New Zealanders are keen travellers and certainly we have taken to air travel with gusto since deregulation arrived in 1990 to free us from the restrictive shackles of the long irrelevant Two Airline Policy. Just how many more of us would visit New Zealand if it was just as easy to get to as a similar distance port in Australia, and vice versa is an interesting hypothesis.

North Queensland is popular with New Zealanders just as it is for southern based Australians, so why not make it easier to tap into this vast market? Imagine if you could fly between the primary ports of New Zealand directly into Coolangatta, Proserpine, Hamilton Island, Cairns and Mackay, let alone Coffs Harbour, Canberra and Hobart, with 120/140 seat twinjets better suited to exploiting the very thing air travellers around the world have screamed long and hard to deaf airline managements that they really want – frequency and convenience allied with competitive fares. We already have the latter so why not the former?

The same airline executives that today say that “the Tasman is not worth exploiting” are also by and large the same people who in years gone by have vigorously resisted putting on more nonstop Melbourne/Brisbanes or Sydney/Perths claiming people didn’t want it. Well finally through deregulation these nonstop (read convenience) routes did eventuate and today they carry the highest load factors system wide. It would not be overly optimistic to believe that if the trans Tasman was truly freed up then revenue passenger kilometres between the two countries could double within a four or five year period. It’s happened elsewhere so why not between Australia and New Zealand?

There have already been a number of special charters run between secondary ports this year with great success. Qantas ran some 737s through Dunedin for the Bledisloe Cup while Invercargill is shaping up to get a share of next year’s winter ski traffic as is Queenstown (if upgraded) and Dunedin. Air New Zealand’s 737 weekly snow charters from Brisbane to Christchurch have proven so popular that the airline is considering putting on a 767 for ’95 whilst it’s special Snow Express 767 out of Sydney has proven the concept that a little imagination can go a long way to attracting a new market to the airways. All that it takes is a little imagination, some positive thinking, a little commercial savvy and a willingness to ‘give it a go’ – sadly all elements well and truly missing from the sad farce that the trans Tasman open skies regime has today become.

Like the man in the movie said – Build It And They Will Come!

Flying In A Void

Have you noticed that we have not been reporting the weekly, monthly or even quarterly performance of our airlines for some time? If your special interest is air transport we are sure you, like us, are certainly missing this vital information. As reported back in our November ’93 (p16) and March ’94 (p20) issues, the initial cause for the delay was that Ansett and Qantas simply refused to let the information be published as they disagreed over what constituted a domestic passenger.

The dispute was resolved last February but quickly brewed again with the result that DoT has not been able to report on what has been happening in the Australian air transport sector since the September quarter last year. This is a truly pathetic situation and one that needs to be firmly addressed by Minister Brereton immediately.

As you read this we all should have had the concise and accurate data via the Dept of Transport for the December ‘93, March and June quarters this year. Indeed, under normal circumstances you would have had the full results of the September quarter in our next issue. The way things are going you won’t see it this side of the Sydney Olympics! This is truly a massive disservice to the entire Australian aviation industry. Accurate data that is required by government decree (ANR 107) from the airlines is the province of the industry, not just those who wish to play petty and childish games because they feel that their company will be disadvantaged if the truth is revealed. Compass II, in its brief life took this attitude and lost industry credibility overnight.

If perchance the Minister responsible could perhaps show as much interest in important aviation matters such as this instead of simply trying to find ways of milking more and more money from his portfolio then we would all, for once, be better off.