1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:01,760
Speaker 1: Heather Duplessy Allen.

2
00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:03,920
Speaker 2: There are fresh rumors that Air New Zealand might be

3
00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:06,600
Speaker 2: eyeing up the New Zealand to London route again. Now

4
00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:09,320
Speaker 2: you remember the airline ditched the LA London connection back

5
00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:11,840
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty and replaced it with the Auckland to

6
00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,040
Speaker 2: New York flight. But there are now reports that the

7
00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,880
Speaker 2: airline has been asking for a slot of Heathrow and

8
00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,680
Speaker 2: hasn't got it. Aviation analyst Jeff Thomas has with me.

9
00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,040
Speaker 1: Hey, Jeff, greetings, how are you very well? Thank you?

10
00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:24,680
Speaker 2: These roomors have been going on for a while a

11
00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:25,880
Speaker 2: do you believe them?

12
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,480
Speaker 1: Look absolutely, And in fact they have been granted slotted

13
00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:33,040
Speaker 1: Gatwick Airport, which, as listeners probably know, is the other

14
00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,040
Speaker 1: major airport in the London area to the south of

15
00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,760
Speaker 1: London rather than to the west of London. And they've

16
00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,080
Speaker 1: been granted a daily slot from I think about June

17
00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:48,240
Speaker 1: next year. So yes, they've got the ability to relaunch

18
00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:52,720
Speaker 1: London services. But the question is which way do they go?

19
00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:57,320
Speaker 1: Do they go via America or do they go possibly

20
00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:59,480
Speaker 1: via Perth and Western Australia.

21
00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:00,600
Speaker 2: Which is the smart way? Do you think?

22
00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:05,000
Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting, it's a good question. The American Connection,

23
00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,319
Speaker 1: and of course that I should also include Vancouver. Here

24
00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:14,440
Speaker 1: the American connection has problems because you have to when

25
00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,120
Speaker 1: you arrive, you've got to go through customs and immigration

26
00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:19,760
Speaker 1: as though you're entering America. Then you've got to go

27
00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,000
Speaker 1: through security to go back onto the aeroplane again, and

28
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,360
Speaker 1: it's a very convoluted pain in the neck process which

29
00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,240
Speaker 1: passengers don't like at all and also holds up the

30
00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:35,039
Speaker 1: aircraft and it causes all sorts of strife. Via Perth

31
00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:41,240
Speaker 1: is a very interesting dynamic because in New Zealand has

32
00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,560
Speaker 1: just entered into a new joint venture or a new

33
00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:50,080
Speaker 1: alliance with Virgin Australia, and Virgin Australia is already stretching

34
00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:56,520
Speaker 1: its wings with a deal with Katar to fly from Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney,

35
00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:02,320
Speaker 1: Perth to Doha using Qatar Airways, aircraft crews and whatnot.

36
00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,280
Speaker 1: It's called a wet lease. Now, what could possibly happen

37
00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,440
Speaker 1: is you could have an Auckland Perth Perth London service

38
00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:14,079
Speaker 1: and the Perth London part of that would be a

39
00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:19,240
Speaker 1: joint venture with Virgin Australia tapping into all of virgins.

40
00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,440
Speaker 2: Noxt hold on, are we sitting on a Virgin plane.

41
00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:24,680
Speaker 1: No, you were sitting on an A New Zealand plank.

42
00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:27,200
Speaker 2: Are we sitting on a Virgin plane for any of this?

43
00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,240
Speaker 1: No? Well you're talking about a Virgin ye A Virgin

44
00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:34,320
Speaker 1: seven three seven is not what Virgin used to run

45
00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:36,960
Speaker 1: prior to COVID. They used to have Boeing Triple sevens

46
00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,680
Speaker 1: and they were about the most luxurious Boeing Triple sevens around.

47
00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,000
Speaker 1: So they know how to do international really really well.

48
00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,200
Speaker 1: Not that Air New Zealand doesn't, because they do it

49
00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:48,640
Speaker 1: really really well as well. But no, it would be

50
00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,160
Speaker 1: it would be an Air New Zealand flight, but it

51
00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:53,600
Speaker 1: would be a code share with Virgin, therefore pulling in

52
00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:59,440
Speaker 1: traffic from Perth and Adelaide and other places around Western Australia.

53
00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:02,440
Speaker 2: But does this the fact that that apparently in New

54
00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,680
Speaker 2: Zealand is still trying to get into Heathrow, does this

55
00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,320
Speaker 2: suggest to you that they are actually regretting pulling out.

56
00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:12,600
Speaker 1: Well, it's a good question. At the time, they needed

57
00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,919
Speaker 1: the money, the London Service was giving them grief. I

58
00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,679
Speaker 1: knew that because they were. They actually canceled quite some

59
00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,760
Speaker 1: time before COVID and then they let it run out.

60
00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:28,640
Speaker 1: It was causing them trouble. They did have the wrong

61
00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:32,720
Speaker 1: aeroplane for it was probably too big. So with the

62
00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,640
Speaker 1: seven eight seven it's more economical they can and it's

63
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,880
Speaker 1: smaller so therefore you haven't got as many seats to fill.

64
00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:45,200
Speaker 1: So are there are equipment issues here? Yeah? And also

65
00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:50,880
Speaker 1: I think a routing via Perth, Australia would eliminate the

66
00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,360
Speaker 1: US problem, which also was an irritation for passengers.

67
00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:56,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, that might work, Jiff, thanks for talking us

68
00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,440
Speaker 2: through it to appreciate it. Jeff Thomas, Aviation analyst Zeeland, by

69
00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:02,200
Speaker 2: the way, is not confirming anything, but they're also not

70
00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:04,840
Speaker 2: denying anything. They just say it's not uncommon for airlines

71
00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,240
Speaker 2: to apply for slots and new airports as part of

72
00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,760
Speaker 2: this network review process. And if I was being cynical,

73
00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,760
Speaker 2: which i am, I would say that, yeah, it's all true.

74
00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:15,760
Speaker 2: They're not denying it.

75
00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:19,680
Speaker 1: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to

76
00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:22,839
Speaker 1: news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow

77
00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:24,640
Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio.