1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,080 Speaker 1: A local airlines putting out an sos to the government. 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:05,720 Speaker 1: Jet fuel prices have almost doubled since the beginning of 3 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:08,200 Speaker 1: the war in Iran air New Zealand's and strife. They're 4 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: hiking international fears by up to ninety bucks. Smaller players 5 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: in trouble too. Dwayne m and a Air Chatham CEO 6 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: with me this morning. Dwayne, good morning, Yeah, very good morning, Row. 7 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: Are you yeah, very well, thank you. You'll be watching 8 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,440 Speaker 1: the price of jet fuel pretty closely. Has it come 9 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:22,960 Speaker 1: back at all? 10 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely watching it a lot more than it was 11 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 2: two weeks ago. Yet it has come back. Just check 12 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 2: this morning. I think it's sitting around eighty five dollars 13 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 2: a barrel for Brent crude. The jet fuel price that 14 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 2: crack spreads a little bit harder to get my hands on, 15 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 2: but good to see that that Brent crude price dropping. 16 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: At this stage. Are you putting up prices? 17 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 2: Yeah. Here, we're following suit with the other regional and 18 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 2: the airlines within New Zealand. We're looking at a twenty 19 00:00:54,480 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 2: dollars increase to our standard fares, which obviously is not 20 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 2: going to cover all of this escalation, but it helps 21 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 2: a little bit. So we did that overnight. Our team 22 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 2: were working on that overnight. 23 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: Does that effect demand, do you think or do people 24 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: just going to fly with you anyway and wear it 25 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: for now? 26 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 2: Well? I hope they'll still fly with us. I think 27 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:20,119 Speaker 2: it's quite important that they do. But that is the balance, right. 28 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 2: The more you put the price up, the more unaffordable 29 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 2: it becomes, and people just don't travel, and then it's 30 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 2: a worse situation for an airline when that happens. 31 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: What do you want the government to do? 32 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, So I've been having a lot of thought about 33 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 2: this the last couple of days. I think the key 34 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 2: thing we're really asking for is just a more proactive approach. Right, 35 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:42,679 Speaker 2: so we all know this is a really volatile situation. 36 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 2: It's changed and escalated quickly in just a matter of days. 37 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 2: So what I think we really want the government to 38 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 2: do is say, well, you know, if this thing pushes 39 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 2: out past the month, two months, three months, what can 40 00:01:55,080 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 2: we actually do tangibly to support regional air kind activity? 41 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 2: And there are a number of options to know that 42 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 2: I spoke recently about some of them, which are those 43 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 2: costs that the government may have some control over through 44 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 2: SOEs and regulatory departments. So I think it's really just 45 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,079 Speaker 2: if you've got this Ministerial committee sitting together and you're 46 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 2: thinking about these things, you know, have a specific focus 47 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 2: on aviation, and say, well, proactively, what could we do, 48 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 2: what could we start working on now? It's put a 49 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 2: mechanism in place to support these guys if it goes longer. 50 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: Have you had any money come through from the regional airlines, 51 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: the loans for regional airlines, the money that the government announced? 52 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,799 Speaker 2: No, no, we're working through it. So you know, it 53 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 2: is a process. There's a lot of tax payer money, 54 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 2: so we've got to do it proptly. So we've been 55 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 2: working with Carnoa and hopefully by the end of this 56 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 2: month the Ministerial Group will meet and make some decisions 57 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 2: on that. 58 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: Dwaine, appreciate your time this morning. Dwayne M and E. E. 59 00:02:58,200 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: Chatham's CEO. 60 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,080 Speaker 2: More from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to 61 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 2: News Talks it Be from five am weekdays, or follow 62 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.