Forum Archive Index - September 2001

["Peter" <pmaiden@xtra.co.nz>]

Stockwatch - whether the Sunday Star Times article is conjecture or not I believe it is inevitable that Air New Zealand will end up under statutory management.

 

As such the sooner the better before the whole debacle is beyond redemption.

 

We need to face up to it - nobody wants to put more capital into this basket case. The government offer of a $550M loan  does nothing to prop up the Air New Zealand balance sheet. As the article says Air New Zealand still (even if SIA and BIL put in their $150M each and after getting rid of Ansett) remins totally over-burdened with debt and with little hope of trading their way out in the next year or so.

 

Let sanity prevail and don't let emotions get in the way  - the government must act on Monday morning. Not just to protect what is left of Air New Zealand but also come to terms that other things like foreign ownership issues need to be addressed once and for all.

 

Air transport, both nationally and internationally, is too important for this country to be without -even if that means our national airline has to be foreign owned.

 

However I fear political ditherings will continue and this sad story will drift on for a few more weeks.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

 

Disc - no AIR shares but a ticket for next week and heaps of frequent flyer points