Latest / Best of Business / Todd Grace: Queenstown Airport chief operating officer on the airport being named as the best in the country

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Todd Grace: Queenstown Airport chief operating officer on the airport being named as the best in the country · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks B Follow
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  Speaker 1: this and our Wide Ranger podcasts now on iHeartRadio Now.
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand's best large airport is not Auckland, not Wellington,
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  Speaker 2: not christ Church, Queenstown. Judges from the New Zealand Airport's
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  Speaker 2: Awards said the airport had exceptional performance across safety, commercial
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  Speaker 2: and community outcomes, and that they were particularly impressed with
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  Speaker 2: Queenstown's new end of runway safety system. Todd Grace is
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  Speaker 2: the airport's chief operating officer and with us.
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  Speaker 3: Hello Todd, Hello here the how are you very well?
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  Speaker 2: Thank you? Congrats? Have you guys celebrated?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, we're starting to celebrate. I think the team that
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  Speaker 3: were up in Blenham last night may have celebrated into
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  Speaker 3: the wee small hours. So we're going to do something
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  Speaker 3: with the team over the next couple of days. But
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  Speaker 3: we're really pleased.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so were you expecting it?
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  Speaker 3: You never really expected. And we're relatively smaller airported in
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  Speaker 3: the large airport category, but you know we've done a
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  Speaker 3: great job and you know we've gone back really strong
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  Speaker 3: post COVID. We're about the only airport in New Zealand
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  Speaker 3: that is back past pre COVID levels where it's a
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  Speaker 3: one hundred and twenty percent of COVID. So and you know,
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  Speaker 3: customers love coming here, the airlines love coming here. In
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  Speaker 3: the region has a lot to offer, so we think
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  Speaker 3: we do a really good job.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So I love what you've done with some of the
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  Speaker 2: new stuff and the new toilets that you've made in
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  Speaker 2: the departure lounge. Is it looks really great. But Todd
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  Speaker 2: I was a little surprised because I was there on
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  Speaker 2: Sunday and we were talking about how it's always chaotic
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  Speaker 2: at Queenstown Airport. Why is it always chaotic at Queenstown Airport.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we do have these peaks in the afternoon, and
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  Speaker 3: you know, we suffer from our own popularity, and so
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  Speaker 3: we know that we've got quite a lot of work
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  Speaker 3: ahead of us and we're really just at the beginning
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  Speaker 3: of that. So some of the things that we've done
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  Speaker 3: have been to improve the customer experience and get the
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  Speaker 3: airfield working right.
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  Speaker 2: And you just need more space, don't you, Because you know,
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  Speaker 2: you go to the screening gates, you go through that
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  Speaker 2: weird like little rat race thing that you do, and
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  Speaker 2: then you're like straight into the screening space and then
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  Speaker 2: you're out the other and it's just so, isn't that
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  Speaker 2: your problem?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well we do. We absolutely need more space, and
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  Speaker 3: and we're probably one of those airports that suffered from
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  Speaker 3: about to start something pre COVID and the world changes
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  Speaker 3: and we come back from COVID and it all bounces back.
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  Speaker 3: So we're just at the beginning of that. And we
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  Speaker 3: know that at certain times of the day it is tight,
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  Speaker 3: and that's why we have a plan and we've and
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  Speaker 3: we've worked through that through with airlines about how to
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  Speaker 3: develop the terminal and how to grow more space.
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  Speaker 2: But it's infrastructure. You put the Corro club on the
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  Speaker 2: right side of the screening a.
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  Speaker 3: And that stops. That stops that mad rush to screening.
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  Speaker 3: But yeah, but you know infrastructure and airports as most
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  Speaker 3: airports around the world. Fine, it takes time to get
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  Speaker 3: stuff and get.
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  Speaker 1: To live it.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, well listen, thanks, And I'm a little bit sorry
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  Speaker 2: that I introduced a negative I am sorry that I
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  Speaker 2: introduced a negative tone to your when you deserve it, obviously, Todd,
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  Speaker 2: because I'm not the judges. They are. Todd Grace, chief
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  Speaker 2: operating Office at Queenstown Airport.
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