Editorial One
Issue 401, October 1, 2018
The rhetoric never stops. Year after year, and conference after conference, our politicians and businesses keep harping on the need to establish direct airlink between New Zealand and India, as if that is the only obstacle to a Free Trade Agreement.
Aviation, Tourism and Technology were the theme of the well-organised Summit of the India New Zealand Business Council on Friday, September 28, 2018 at Pullman Hotel in Auckland. A sizeable contingent of impressive speakers representing a cross-section of the industries from India and New Zealand were at the Conference offering valuable thoughts and statistics on the emerging trends in civil aviation across the world.
Airlines not committed
So far so good. But governments and conference speakers and organisers saying that a direct link is a must, fall short of two things: Reality and airline operators. Both betray expectations, for, despite an Open Air policy, neither Air New Zealand nor any of the Indian airline operators has expressed an interest in serving the route.
An Asia New Zealand Foundation Report published in 2016 said that India has always been more than a single non-stop flight away, unlike destinations within ASEAN and North Asia.
“Now, however, the technology exists to make non-stop flights to and from India possible.
Both Air India and Air New Zealand have Boeing 787 aircraft in their fleets that could manage the 16-hour flight time, but they look unlikely to chance their arms on this in the immediate future,” the Report said.
Air New Zealand regards the yield on the sector as insufficient to justify non-stop flights, which require a very heavy fuel load and thus a potentially smaller payload.
Air India, which is now a Star Alliance member, crucially has the right to fly directly to Auckland from New Delhi as well as from any other Indian city it wishes.
The nearest it has come so far, though, is Australia.
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