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Speaker 1: Here we go again with the winging about Air New

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Speaker 1: Zealand's prices. And I get it. I try and book

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Speaker 1: the same flights as everybody else. And when you're trying

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Speaker 1: to fly from some obscure route, you know, from this

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Speaker 1: province to that province, stuff gets expensive really quickly. But

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Speaker 1: here we go again with politicians telling us FIBs, telling

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Speaker 1: us they can wave a magic wand and fix things.

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Speaker 1: This time it's James Megha from National going into bat

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Speaker 1: for the South Island. Can't blame the guy flying. Shouldn't

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Speaker 1: just be for the rich who says we're going to

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Speaker 1: take action talking about underwriting airlines. Do we really want

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Speaker 1: the government underwriting the purchase of turboprop planes? Really when

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Speaker 1: we already own Air New Zealand. We've heard this all before,

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Speaker 1: of course, the banks, the supermarkets, the price of petrol,

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Speaker 1: you name it. I can't tell you how many painstaking,

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Speaker 1: frustrating interviews I have done with ministers of all colors

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Speaker 1: and stripes, to be fair, who swear black and blue

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Speaker 1: they'll sort it out and then they don't. What's worse

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Speaker 1: the person that punches you in the nose or the

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Speaker 1: doctor that says they'll fix it when they know they can't,

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Speaker 1: and you just left with a bent nose and no hope.

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Speaker 1: Here's the thing. If you want to book the main

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Speaker 1: trunk line, it is relatively inexpensive to do so, providing

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Speaker 1: you're not booking last minute. There's Jetstar keeping Air New

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Speaker 1: Zealand on us. That's competition. But if you're flying Kenny

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Speaker 1: Kenny to Dunedin tomorrow, guess what it'll cost you? A

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Speaker 1: billion dollars? Why? Because they're basically got you over a barrel,

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Speaker 1: haven't they You need to fly? It's short notice. Business

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Speaker 1: customers normally booked these flights. Eight thousand people live in

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Speaker 1: Ketty Kenny, one hundred and thirty thousand in Dunedin. Tourism

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Speaker 1: is seasonal, these routes are often empty. Air New Zealand

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Speaker 1: has major aircraft engine issues. The fact is running a

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Speaker 1: profitable airline in a sparsely populated country is bloody difficult,

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Speaker 1: and we want them to be profitable. Otherwise we have

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Speaker 1: no airline and then we're a backwater banana republic and

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Speaker 1: the regional players they're not doing too well either. Ere

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Speaker 1: Chathams the other week, remember this, threatening to pull out

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Speaker 1: of Fakatana unless the council paid for a new Cessna.

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Speaker 1: Everyone compares us to the Ossies, but have a look

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Speaker 1: at outback Queensland. You pay thousands just to get to Brisbane.

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Speaker 1: Show me a headline about flights being cheaper from Dunedin

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Speaker 1: to Bali than Dunedin to Auckland, and I'll show you

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Speaker 1: one about Mount Isa to Brisbane and Brisbane to Canada.

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Speaker 1: Population matters, and guess what, We're a blip on the radar.

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Speaker 1: And as for that promise from a politician that they'll

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Speaker 1: swoop in and save the day, about as reliable as

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Speaker 1: the playing schedule itself. For more from Early Edition with

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Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks. It'd be from

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Speaker 1: five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.