U.S. wants Chch terminal

Press, 7 April 1979, Page 1

U.S. wants Chch terminal

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor, concludes his

two-part series on the attitudes of United States Aeronautics Board members to New Zealand’s air-travel policies.

The United States wants the New Zealand Government to grant either Pan American or Continental Airlines the right to use both Christchurch and Auckland airports. Such an arrangement would enable the American carriers to service both centres on a throughflight basis and would eliminate the need for South Islanders to fly north on Air New' Zealand’s domestic services to connect with their international Pacific departures which are now available from Auckland only. The proposal was part of the package presented to the New Zealand Government and Air New Zealand negotiators by Civil Aeronautics Board directors at Washington in March.

Pan American already has the necessary rights to use Christchurch, but if it did so under the existing agreement, it would then be forced to overfly Auckland.

"Our carriers would like to see Christchurch co-ter-

minalise with Auckland so that they could uplift and drop off passengers at both cities on the' one flight,’’ said Mr Donald Farmer, the director of the C.A.B.’s bureau of international aviation. Mr Farmer said the Americans were not seeking domestic rights between Christchurch and Auckland, but the arrangement would be on a par

with Air New Zealand’s existing right to use both Honolulu and Los Angeles. The Americans’ request to incorporate Christchurch in their flights was included in their over-all package for a revised agreement which would allow more liberal pricing, open competition, and freer access. In return, the Americans offered New Zealand

extended rights through the United States mainland with beyond possibilities to Canada, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Mr Michael Levine, the director of the board’s bureau of pricing and domestic aviation, said he believed Air New Zealand stood to gain more than it would lose by expanding its routes. “We specifically offered

the New Zealanders the right to fly across the Atlantic through the city of their choice along our" east coast,” he said. “That is the sensible way to go now that the Australians have sewn up the kangaroo route.” Mr Farmer said that the C.A.B. was disappointed that New’ Zealand had caused Continental to withdraw its widely adver-

tised low fares. “Continental sought our support and we made strong representations on its behalf,” he said.

Mr Levine said the C.A.B. was disappointed by the New Zealanders’ lack of enthusiasm for both “what we offered and what we wanted.”

“In fact, our package was so favourable to New Zealand that our own industry criticised us for our generosity,” he said. The C.A.B.’s managing director, Mr A. Rederer, said the New Zealanders w’ere apparently concerned that their airline would not benefit from improved access to the American market. “Their feeling was that one of their major problems is the loss of many passengers at Honolulu, leaving a lightly loaded aircraft for the final sector to Los Angeles,” he said.

In spite of New Zealand’s stand, neither the C.A.B. nor the airline is planning to pressure the Government to change its mind. The board is hoping that New Zealand will voluntarily review its policy in due course, particularly if loadings on Air New Zealand show signs of decreasing. “We are disappointed, but we will be meeting again,” said Mr Farmer. “We are not aiming to get tough. We are not as imperialistic as many people claim and we do not push people around whem we are trying to change an agreement." Continental, too, has derided to play it cool in the meantime. In Los Angeles the airline’s vicepresident of passenger marketing and development (Mr Donald Beck) said that there were ways of circumventing

Zealand Government’s restrictions. “We could play funny games like filing a low fare from Pago Pago, which is American territory, but we are not pirates and we will not be doing that,” he said. “Instead, we will continue to press our Government to negotiate with the New Zealanders to see if it can get them to change their minds.” The New Zealand Government has blocked Continental from introducing a $465 round-trip fare between Los Angeles and Auckland, and a $265 round-trip rate between Honolulu and Auckland, fares which are substantially lower than Air Zealand’s lowest rates for this time of the year. Mr Beck was confident that Continental’s ex- i cursion into the South i Pacific would not suffer i the same fate as that of i American Airlines, which was forced to withdraw’ i from the region six years ■ ago. : “American was working ] eerirely Wsfereai

circumstances,” he said. "It had no West Coast gateway with which to create traffic, a severe handicap considering that 75 per cent of all United States traffic originates west of the Mississippi. Also, the airline was I never very interested in the South Pacific: its original intention was to fly the North Pacific to Japan.” Mr Beck said the South Pacific had never been promoted or sold in the United States interior, but his airline had the necessary resources to generate traffic from within that area. “We are sure we will be creating a new market and that we will not be stealing business from any other airline,” he said. On the domestic scene, consideration was being given to “winter sale” fares being offered on internal routes. Boeing services to Hamilton and Palmerston North were expected to increase; and could be extended to I Napier and New Plymouth in ..the nud JABte,