Latest / Best of Business / Billie Moore: Airports Association chief executive on the increase in airlines axing flights

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Billie Moore: Airports Association chief executive on the increase in airlines axing flights · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: Heather Duplas Ellen Right.
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  Speaker 2: In New Zealand, there's cutting flights again, this time to
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  Speaker 2: Nelson and Todunger. So Nelson is losing one hundred and
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  Speaker 2: forty off peak flights over May and June, and Totunger
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  Speaker 2: is losing around nine fleet the flights a week across
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  Speaker 2: that time to the major cities. Billy Moore is the
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  Speaker 2: CEO of the New Zealand Airport's Association and with US
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  Speaker 2: high Billy Hi, Is that the extent of it just
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  Speaker 2: those two cities impacted.
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  Speaker 3: I would expect it to be broader than that. In
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  Speaker 3: my expectation, although I can't see it all across the
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  Speaker 3: country yet, is that this will be a rolling over
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  Speaker 3: of the reductions that they already made, So a continuation
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  Speaker 3: of the same level of cuts, but just for a
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  Speaker 3: few months longer. That's my expectation at the moment. So
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  Speaker 3: similar impact to the impact that we've already seen around
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  Speaker 3: the country with that first round.
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  Speaker 2: Is it the same as the prices, because I see
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  Speaker 2: they've put up the prices domestic twenty bucks international between
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  Speaker 2: forty and ninety depending on how long the route is.
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  Speaker 2: Is that on top of what's already happened or is
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  Speaker 2: that just an extension of what's already happened.
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  Speaker 3: I think with their language today, my assumption is that
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  Speaker 3: it's on top of it. But again, we'll have to
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  Speaker 3: have a look at the data. It is. We certainly
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  Speaker 3: prefer to see fuel surcharges at the moment because there
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  Speaker 3: are better indication to consumers of a clear cost impact
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  Speaker 3: that hopefully will be reversed later. The integration of the
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  Speaker 3: cost into the broad airf your cost base is a
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  Speaker 3: little bit harder to track over time, unfortunately, So I
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  Speaker 3: would have preferred to see if fuel seer charge. Probably,
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  Speaker 3: but look, the costs are up, and I wouldn't have
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  Speaker 3: criticized them for taking those steps.
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  Speaker 2: Billy, do you reckon it's temporary or are they using
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  Speaker 2: this as an excuse to cut some of the more unprofitable,
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  Speaker 2: potentially permanently more unprofitable routes.
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  Speaker 3: Look, it's a big question. We have to take them
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  Speaker 3: at their word on their approach at the moment where
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  Speaker 3: they are. Essentially i'd describe it as optimizing in the
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  Speaker 3: face of increased costs, so they're looking to consolidate flights
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  Speaker 3: on the same day where it makes sense things like that.
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  Speaker 3: But we do have to reflect on the fact that
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  Speaker 3: this isn't about reducing fuel costs specifically, one return flight
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  Speaker 3: to New York, for instance, would use the same amount
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  Speaker 3: of fuel as one hundred and seventy return flights to
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  Speaker 3: New Plymouth. So this is about more broad commercial optimization,
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  Speaker 3: which is something that we can understand that they need
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  Speaker 3: to do, not about reducing that burden of fuel cost
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  Speaker 3: overall on the airline. Otherwise we'd see a greater focus
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  Speaker 3: on long haul.
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  Speaker 2: All right, Hey, thank you very much, Billy. As always,
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  Speaker 2: Billy More Airports Association.
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