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Speaker 1: Auckland Airport has posted a steady half year result. Revenue

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Speaker 1: is up four percent nearly five hundred and twenty million dollars,

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Speaker 1: and the dividend that will be paid out of six

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Speaker 1: and a half cents. Chief executive Cuddy Hung Carry Hodi

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Speaker 1: Hunganui joins us now Hi carry Hi right, So two

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Speaker 1: percent passenger growth is that good?

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's pleasing, you know. I think the word I'd

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Speaker 2: use is momentum is.

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Speaker 1: Building building, So where do we want to get it to?

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Speaker 2: Well, if we step back and look to say, if

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Speaker 2: we look over the summer period, we did see a

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Speaker 2: four percent increase incapacity, which is great, but still only

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Speaker 2: sitting at not quite ninety five percent of twenty nineteen levels.

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Speaker 2: And I'd love to stop referring to twenty nineteen as

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Speaker 2: the comparative, but at this point it is still a

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Speaker 2: good reference point. Understand how that recovery is progressing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we're still very much in catch up mode.

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Speaker 1: How long do you reckon before we actually start eclipsing

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Speaker 1: that and get on the other side.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great question. What we are seeing demand

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Speaker 2: is certainly there. We're seeing percentage point five percentage point

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Speaker 2: lift in December versus twenty nineteen on load factors, meaning

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Speaker 2: that demand is uppacing supply. You still have this global

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Speaker 2: supply chain issue around jets, engines, et cetera that is

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Speaker 2: subduing that. The flip side, though, is that is starting

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Speaker 2: to wash through. You know, we were delighted to get

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Speaker 2: Tai Airways announcement of returning to the market, and part

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Speaker 2: of that is as they are getting additional fleet, they

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Speaker 2: are they were able to return to New Zealand, which

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Speaker 2: is great.

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Speaker 1: How are things going between yourselves and in New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: I think certainly we've talked about this before. They're on

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Speaker 2: an operational basis, we have day to day a lot

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Speaker 2: of activity. They had a tough week the other week

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Speaker 2: with a strike and certainly we supported them with getting

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Speaker 2: restarted out of that. So I think that's really strong.

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Speaker 2: I think there's always points of difference when it comes

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Speaker 2: to bracing every five years, and so that's not unexpected

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Speaker 2: and one of the natural tensions the airports and airlines

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Speaker 2: tend to have. I mean, and.

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Speaker 1: I feel as if it's not coincidence. What do you

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Speaker 1: think that they've popped up at a Select committee on

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Speaker 1: the day that you report to the markets and they're

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Speaker 1: complaining about your pricing.

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't know as far as the calendar of

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Speaker 2: flight committees and when they are sat, but what I

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Speaker 2: can say is up on airport. Certainly, we are focused

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Speaker 2: on delivering capacity and resilience that New Zealanders are asking for,

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Speaker 2: and I would encourage the air New Zealand to do

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Speaker 2: the same. Our country needs a strong and growing national airline.

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Speaker 2: But I also think contact is important and facts matter

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Speaker 2: that airports are not and shouldn't be the scapegoats for

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Speaker 2: some of the challenges that they've been experiencing.

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Speaker 1: Do you think I mean it seems to me the

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Speaker 1: solution here in New Zealand's complaining says you're charging too much.

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Speaker 1: You guys say you need the money for the renovation.

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Speaker 1: Is there a middle ground here where maybe you just

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Speaker 1: drop down slightly what you ask for?

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Speaker 2: I think there's a couple of things in that. How

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Speaker 2: airports are you? Who pays infrastructure? We're regulated to ensure

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Speaker 2: we chair charge fair prices. I think yesterday or the

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Speaker 2: day before, Infrastructure Commission talked about actually network infrastructure should

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Speaker 2: be funded by user pays. Really again, I think we're

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Speaker 2: mixing our drinks a little bit. When you look at airlines,

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Speaker 2: the way they offer that and cost increases is growth.

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Speaker 2: And when you look at Air New Zealand for a

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Speaker 2: whole bunch of reasons, they have had challenges with not growing,

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Speaker 2: but they're bucking the trend. Globally and regionally. Airlines are

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Speaker 2: growing and that's how you manage your cost per unit,

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Speaker 2: and so I think there's an element there that they

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Speaker 2: need to look at is again, what are the reasons

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Speaker 2: why their costs are increasing and their abilities to manage that.

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Speaker 2: It isn't airports as the primary cause, you know. The

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Speaker 2: second is we want them to grow too. Their position

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Speaker 2: is hurting New Zealand and New Zealanders if they don't grow,

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Speaker 2: So we want them to grow. But I do think

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Speaker 2: questions should be asked more deeply about their cost base

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Speaker 2: and their strategy, things like airfare monitoring and actually interrogating

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Speaker 2: those elements. Airports are regulated and we have huge disclosure requirements,

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Speaker 2: whereas for Air New Zealand we just need to believe

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Speaker 2: what they say. There isn't any form of disclosure requirements

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Speaker 2: or validation. And I think that's a starting point to

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Speaker 2: understand kind of what some of the quarter issues.

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Speaker 1: Are speaking of the renovation. How's it looking, because every

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Speaker 1: time I go there it looks bloody brilliant.

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Speaker 2: Frankly, well, it's coming along, it's coming along. Well, actually,

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Speaker 2: I mean we are on track to open it in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty nine. We've had some key milestones in this period,

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Speaker 2: just pass that we reported on today, which is fantastic,

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Speaker 2: and travelers will start to see that more directly as

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Speaker 2: we start to transform the check in area from quarter

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Speaker 2: to this year. Clearly, we will do everything possible to

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Speaker 2: minimize the impact and it will be fabulous on the

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Speaker 2: other side, but there is going to be a period

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Speaker 2: of disruption that we certainly appreciate that.

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Speaker 1: When's the other side, by the way, when do we

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Speaker 1: get to see the new Chicken experience?

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Speaker 2: Oh, well, we'll do because we don't want to reduce

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Speaker 2: capacity hither, so we are taking in effect, we're renovating

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Speaker 2: a zone at a time in the international check in area,

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Speaker 2: and so that will take eighteen to twenty four months

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Speaker 2: to kind of work through that so that we can

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Speaker 2: maintain capacity throughout and ensure that travelers are having a

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Speaker 2: seamless journey. So that will take up to twenty four months,

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Speaker 2: and then I said, we're on track for the integrated

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Speaker 2: terminal to open in twenty twenty nine.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff, looking forward to it. Carrie, Thanks very much

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Speaker 1: as always, Carrie her to Hunger a week Auckland Airport

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Speaker 1: Chief Executive.

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Speaker 2: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

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