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Speaker 1: The Comma's Commission have been to the debate for the

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Speaker 1: second time in a week. Basically, first the Supermarket merger,

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Speaker 1: of course they're not convinced about that, and now the

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Speaker 1: Auckland Airport and their charges they're not convinced about that either.

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Speaker 1: A draft investigation has found the airport's returns were in

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Speaker 1: excess of what was reasonable. The New Zealand Chief Executive

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Speaker 1: Greg Forunes with us on this Greg morning. Is this

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Speaker 1: a win for the airline.

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Speaker 2: It's a small part of it, you know, it's dealing

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Speaker 2: with the return that the airport get on priced aeronautical activities.

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Speaker 2: So we please to Commerce have come out with that.

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Speaker 2: We still think this more regulatory change required.

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Speaker 1: Will it come.

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Speaker 2: We're going to push and continue to push hard on

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Speaker 2: this and we're going to get on with Andrew Bailey

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Speaker 2: who's the Commerce Minister, and get him to try and

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Speaker 2: get some regulatory change in there.

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Speaker 1: Do you think Bailey's the government the Commers Commission is

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Speaker 1: separate from the Commers Commission's point of view. Does this

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Speaker 1: send the message to Auckland Airport that they're out of

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Speaker 1: line and Auckland Airport will get that.

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Speaker 2: Well. Of course it's the first time the Commerce Commission

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Speaker 2: have sent this message. Last time we had a price

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Speaker 2: setting event, there was a fifteen million dollar view that

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Speaker 2: they were over the top, and this time it's two

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Speaker 2: hundred million. So you know, this is interesting. But all

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Speaker 2: what's really doing is saying that in terms of your

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Speaker 2: aeronautical activities, we think the return you're getting on those

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Speaker 2: is too much. What we're looking for is for some

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Speaker 2: activity that says how much you spending to begin with.

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Speaker 2: And it's not that we don't think some money shouldn't

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Speaker 2: be spent, No, it's how much is.

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Speaker 1: Do you have any sympathy for them in the sense

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Speaker 1: that the fact that their monopolistic isn't really their fault

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Speaker 1: and they want to do some stuff another business might

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Speaker 1: want to do, and good on them for doing it.

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Speaker 1: But all these people like you, like the Commerce Commission,

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Speaker 1: like the government, et cetera, are constraining them to a

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Speaker 1: degree and in normal circumstances that would be seen as unfair.

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Speaker 2: Basically I would agree with that Mark. I don't think

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Speaker 2: this is an issue that Auckland Airport, you know, are

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Speaker 2: doing anything that a normal business wouldn't do. Our issue

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Speaker 2: is that the regulations aren't set at the right level

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Speaker 2: for this. And by the way, it's not any New

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Speaker 2: Zealand thing where we're seeing other airlines domestic airlines putting

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Speaker 2: their hands up. It's just that obviously we're the larger player,

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Speaker 2: so we tend to get more of the voice. But

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Speaker 2: everyone's feeling it. Auckland Airport are doing what Auckland Airport

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Speaker 2: would do. It's the regulations here that need to change

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Speaker 2: and it's Andrew Bailey who can help make it happen.

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Speaker 1: While I've got you, tourism mired at eighty percent of

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Speaker 1: what it once was. Is anybody actually concerned about this

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Speaker 1: in this country or not? Really?

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Speaker 2: I am, and I know my team a and when

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Speaker 2: you have a look at the numbers, there's one area

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Speaker 2: in particular that we're all in short and that happens

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Speaker 2: to be trained. So if we could get the numbers

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Speaker 2: in China backup, and some of the stats looking at

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Speaker 2: Mike would indicate that they're down about forty six percent

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Speaker 2: on where they were twenty nineteen and they were our

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Speaker 2: second largest tourism market. If we fix that, we actually

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Speaker 2: go a long way to filling the hole this is.

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Speaker 1: But part of the problem with that is that it's

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Speaker 1: not our fault that China doesn't want to travel and

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Speaker 1: where they are traveling. I understand they travel domestically and

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Speaker 1: maybe they're going to Asia like Singapore and Indonesia, et cetera.

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Speaker 1: Is that our problem? Do we have an image problem

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Speaker 1: beyond China?

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Speaker 2: I would say that, like a lot of problems, there's

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Speaker 2: a lot of issues that go into them. Possibly China

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Speaker 2: are trying to fuel their domestic economy, so you know,

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Speaker 2: are a little bit hesitant to have people leave. What

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Speaker 2: I would tell you is that traffic between the US

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Speaker 2: and China, in terms of air travel is still considerably suppressed.

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Speaker 2: I think I think they're still operating at just sixteen

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Speaker 2: percent of pre COVID, So people there will want to travel.

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Speaker 2: We haven't made it as easy as what we could.

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Speaker 2: You know that these are office is now no longer

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Speaker 2: open evasion, so that's got to be handhld. Here in

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Speaker 2: New Zealand, there's a translation fee that has now been

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Speaker 2: applied to it. So every time you stick friction, it

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Speaker 2: makes it more difficult for people to do it. What

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Speaker 2: I'll also tell you is that I think something like

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Speaker 2: thirty two flights between China and New Zealand every single

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Speaker 2: week so there's no shortage of capacity there. We've got

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Speaker 2: to make it really easy for those people to come

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Speaker 2: here and enjoy a great holiday in New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: Well, so I appreciate your time is always great. Forum

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Speaker 1: in New Zealand CEO.

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Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks that'd be from six am weekdays, or follow

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