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Speaker 1: Now in New Zealand is finally dealing with one of

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Speaker 1: those annoying things that's been bugging people who fly regionally.

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Speaker 1: People can now book a single ticket for journeys that

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Speaker 1: combine a domestic flight with a regional flight operated by

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Speaker 1: Air Chathams. It means one booking, so the luggage is

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Speaker 1: checked all the way through to your final destination, even

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Speaker 1: when you swap carriers. Mike Williams is Air New Zealand's

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Speaker 1: Chief Transformation and Alliances Officer and with us hime Mike, Hi,

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Speaker 1: how are you well? Thank you? So is this just

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Speaker 1: the Fukatani destination.

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Speaker 2: Well, today's step one, but I hope there's a step

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Speaker 2: two and maybe a step three beyond that. So it

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Speaker 2: is as a start. It's we can think of it

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Speaker 2: as a trial really making sure that we have things

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Speaker 2: set up and it works smoothly, because it's been a

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Speaker 2: long time since we've been able to put one of

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Speaker 2: these what we call interline arrangements together. But absolutely I

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Speaker 2: hope to see more of New Zealand connected in the future.

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Speaker 1: And are you able to do it if you're flying internationally,

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Speaker 1: so for example, I don't know, let's say you're flying

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Speaker 1: from somewhere in Australia into New Zealand and you're going

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Speaker 1: to go through to Fakatani. Can you do it like that?

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Speaker 2: At the moment, we're just looking at the domestic scope.

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Speaker 2: But again I think it's a case for us of

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Speaker 2: working super closely with their chathams and the regions and

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Speaker 2: then let's see what the future looks like.

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Speaker 1: What's so hard about it?

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Speaker 2: It just takes time. I mean some of these things

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Speaker 2: are operationally complex, and it's really thinking about what happens

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Speaker 2: in the case of a disrupt and do the digital

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Speaker 2: systems talk well to each other and have we trained

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Speaker 2: all of our staff and things like that. So I

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Speaker 2: wouldn't say it's difficult, but it's just one that we

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Speaker 2: want to get right so that customers have a great experience.

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Speaker 1: So is it more about the computers than it is

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Speaker 1: about actually picking up the right bag and chucking it

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Speaker 1: in the right place.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's all of the above, really, But you know,

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Speaker 2: the system is complicated and complex in some cases, so

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Speaker 2: it pays to take a bit of time to make

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Speaker 2: sure that things are done in a really seamless way.

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Speaker 1: Why is it, Mike that I mean? Correct me if

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Speaker 1: I'm wrong. But this is quite normal overseas, isn't it.

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Speaker 2: It is normal, especially with international airlines, and I don't

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Speaker 2: know what the exact number is. I think it's up

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Speaker 2: to fifty interline partnerships that we've got around the world.

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Speaker 2: But it's much more normal when there's larger air lines

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Speaker 2: connecting with other larger alines. It's actually not that common

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Speaker 2: to have these sorts of relationships domestically. But you know,

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Speaker 2: today is a great day for air Chathams who have

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Speaker 2: been serving amazingly well for many years. It's a great

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Speaker 2: day for it's a great day for regions like this.

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Speaker 2: And to your earlier question, I think the excitement is

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Speaker 2: that we really look at this as step one of

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Speaker 2: a few steps.

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Speaker 1: So why is it that it's it's more common with

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Speaker 1: the big, big carriers than it is with the little ones.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just the nature really of where customers want

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Speaker 2: to travel to. And generally speaking, domestic networks are more

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Speaker 2: call it point to points, so you fly from A

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Speaker 2: to B and that gets you where you need to

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Speaker 2: get to. There's less traffic that flows through hubs, and

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Speaker 2: that's much more common internationally when you're connecting between you know,

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Speaker 2: Auckland through Singapore to get to somewhere else, for example.

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Speaker 2: But there's no reason why it shouldn't work. And ultimately

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Speaker 2: this is about connecting regions between I Chatham's network with

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Speaker 2: regions from in New Zealand's network as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Mike, thanks very much, really appreciate it. Mike Williams,

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Speaker 1: Chief Transformation and Alliances Offer Officerity in New Zealand.

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