Qantas ups the ante in NZ

By Felicity Anderson, Nzoom.com Business News Editor

Tuesday 16th October 2001

Qantas could expand its New Zealand operations permanently if a temporary summer service was successful, Macquarie Equities' senior investment analyst Arthur Lim says.

Qantas has confirmed it is planning to lease two or three Boeing 737-300 aircraft for its existing limited domestic services between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Initially the aircraft will replace two 737s on short term leases from Air Pacific and Polynesian Airlines.

The Air Pacific and Polynesian Airlines planes are replacements for Qantas aircraft which have returned to Australia to cope with demand there. Qantas needs more aircraft to provide capacity in Australia after the demise of Ansett Australia last month.

Lim said Qantas would be keen to increase its capacity on the lucrative main trunk routes between the main centres during the peak summer period.

However, if demand was good, Qantas could probably increase its New Zealand fleet of four aircraft to six long term.

The Australian carrier has a code share agreement with Nelson-based regional carrier Origin Pacific.

Lim said Qantas could lease the new jets for New Zealand from leasing company Ansett Worldwide in a deal that included pilots and engineering staff, known as a wet lease.

Ansett Worldwide at the weekend advertised for similar positions offering a three month contract starting next month, with a possible extension.

Lim said if Ansett Mark II was successful then Qantas would have surplus aircraft in Australia which it could use in New Zealand provided the temporary summer service attracted enough passengers.

It would then return the wet leased aircraft and their crews, replacing them with its own to fly in New Zealand.

However, if Ansett Mark II failed to recoup market share, Qantas would need all its existing aircraft in Australia and would have the option of converting the wet leased aircraft to cheaper finance leases for its New Zealand services, offering the crew the chance to extend their contracts.

Qantas spokesman Michael Sharp said this week that the airline was not ruling out expansion of its New Zealand services, but had no immediate plans to do so.

Ansett Worldwide spokeswoman Patricia Russo said the company would not give details about the number of staff it was looking for or for which airline. She said the company was talking to a number of parties and wanted to ensure it had the aircraft and crew available if needed.

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