Air NZ Seeks Island Govt Handouts
November 13th, 2008
Air NZ is pushing for the Govts of Tonga and Samoa to help cover the losses on services it provides linking the countries with Auckland and Los Angeles. Airline spokesman, Mark Street, says Air NZ will only deploy aircraft on routes with sufficient and suitable demand to fill them profitably because airlines which fly half-empty aircraft, or with low-yielding customers quickly go bankrupt. The airline says it will stop servicing the routes from March, 2009 if no actions are taken to make the routes profitable.
Review Underway. Cook Islands has been locked into paying a service subsidy since last year and has been doing so from its inception due to lack of demand. The airline is now asking the same from Samoa and Tonga. The airline wants $4.8m per annum from the two countries. A review has been underway for several months in an effort to determine the best way for Air NZ to stem the financial losses these services are generating while doing everything possible to preserve access to the Pacific Island’s trade and tourism business with the USA.
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