AIRPORT ANSWERS MUST BE FOUND
Editorial13 October 2008
A week ago today Air New Zealand pulled the pin on the majority of its international flights out of Hamilton International Airport. The reasons given by the national carrier have since been subject to claim and counter claim. There is no doubt, though, Hamiltonians feel Air NZ is the bad guy.
Perhaps the biggest sequel to the saga comes next week, October 20, when the airport's annual report is due to be released. It should become clear then how worried ratepayers in the five council areas which jointly own the airport (Hamilton, Waikato, Waipa, Otorohanga and Matamata-Piako) should be.
Everyone in the region should have immense pride in the sparkling new terminal that headquarters our air services from near Mystery Creek. But it came at a cost - about $15 million to be precise. The annual accounts will be revealing. At one time the Times understands the airport debt went past $20 million. However, strong revenue over the past two years is likely to have that down to $15-17 million come next week. But if the airport loses three major tranches of revenue - international landing fees, a cut of duty free commission and carparking fees for international passengers - how can it service that debt?
Airport management will need to come clean next week.
Of course, the airport owners have a lot of land at their disposal and the planned establishment of an aviation hub at Titanium Park is due to get under way shortly. There should be ways, even if revenue drops significantly, to ensure ratepayers don't have to dip into their pockets for a bailout.
But should it have come to this?
The greater Waikato has a population bordering on 200,000 and then there are significant numbers in the Bay of Plenty who don't have international air services. It defies belief to suggest an area of that size can't sustain international flights.
Questions need to be asked about the relationships between the airport and its major client, Air New Zealand. Two years ago Air NZ said the upgrade was an unnecessary burden on it and users. Its actions since - ditching Freedom, changing flight destinations and now cutting back to Brisbane twice a week only - look, externally at least, to almost have been aimed to fulfil its own prophecy. Airport management must have been aware of the risk: so how did they manage it, what guarantees did they seek and what is their fallback position?
They should be moving mountains to find an alternative carrier, even with heavy airport discounts. For someone coming in, there is fertile ground on fares - higher than the cut-throat market that is Auckland, but lower than the prohibitive charges Air New Zealand had set.
There is also an uncomfortable link between the airport woes and the region's glaring lack of focus on tourism. The revelation that visitors from Australia are down 38 per cent since Freedom's axing is stunning. Who took the foot off the tourist promotion pedal? The airline, the Waikato region? There are a lot of questions to be answered before our airport "takes off" again.
©008 Fairfax New Zealand Limited.
Waikato Times
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