0:00

Here we go again with the winging about

0:02

Air New Zealand's prices. And I get

0:04

it. I try and book the same flights

0:07

as everybody else. And when you're trying to fly from some

0:09

obscure route, you know, from this province

0:11

to that province, stuff gets expensive

0:13

really quickly. But here we

0:15

go again with politicians telling

0:18

us FIBs, telling us they

0:20

can wave a magic wand and fix things.

0:22

This time it's James Megha from National

0:24

going into bat for the South Island. Can't blame

0:27

the guy flying. Shouldn't just be

0:29

for the rich who says we're going to take action

0:31

talking about underwriting airlines.

0:34

Do we really want the government underwriting

0:37

the purchase of turboprop planes?

0:39

Really when we already own Air

0:42

New Zealand. We've heard this all

0:44

before, of course, the banks, the supermarkets,

0:46

the price of petrol, you name it. I

0:48

can't tell you how many painstaking,

0:51

frustrating interviews I

0:53

have done with ministers of all colors

0:55

and stripes, to be fair, who swear black and blue

0:57

they'll sort it out and then they don't. What's

1:00

worse the person that punches you

1:02

in the nose or the doctor that says

1:04

they'll fix it when they know they can't, and

1:07

you just left with a bent nose and no hope.

1:10

Here's the thing. If you want to book the main

1:12

trunk line, it is relatively

1:15

inexpensive to do so, providing you're not booking

1:17

last minute. There's Jetstar keeping Air

1:19

New Zealand on us. That's competition. But if you're flying

1:22

Kenny Kenny to Dunedin tomorrow,

1:24

guess what it'll cost you? A billion

1:26

dollars? Why? Because they're

1:29

basically got you over a barrel, haven't they

1:32

You need to fly? It's short notice. Business

1:34

customers normally booked these flights. Eight

1:36

thousand people live in Ketty Kenny, one

1:39

hundred and thirty thousand in Dunedin. Tourism

1:42

is seasonal, these routes

1:44

are often empty. Air New Zealand

1:46

has major aircraft engine

1:48

issues. The fact is running

1:50

a profitable airline in a sparsely

1:52

populated country is bloody difficult,

1:56

and we want them to be profitable. Otherwise

1:58

we have no airline and then we're

2:00

a backwater banana republic and

2:03

the regional players they're not doing

2:05

too well either. Ere Chathams the other

2:07

week, remember this, threatening to pull out

2:09

of Fakatana unless the council paid

2:12

for a new Cessna. Everyone

2:14

compares us to the Ossies, but have a

2:16

look at outback Queensland.

2:19

You pay thousands just to get to Brisbane.

2:22

Show me a headline about flights being cheaper

2:24

from Dunedin to Bali than

2:26

Dunedin to Auckland, and I'll

2:28

show you one about Mount Isa

2:31

to Brisbane and Brisbane to Canada.

2:34

Population matters, and guess what,

2:37

We're a blip on the radar. And

2:39

as for that promise from a politician

2:42

that they'll swoop in and save the day,

2:44

about as reliable as the playing schedule

2:47

itself. For more from

2:49

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen

2:51

live to News Talks. It'd be from five

2:53

am weekdays, or follow the podcast

2:56

on iHeartRadio.