Virgin checks NZ airports

The Sir Richard Branson-owned carrier is weighing up its international options and plans to expand across the Tasman and into other Asia-Pacific destinations.

Tender documents will be sent this week to more than 20 South Pacific airports capable of landing a Boeing 737.

Hamilton, which received its letter today, is one of seven New Zealand airports along with Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Palmerston North, Dunedin and Queenstown to be asked to make a case.

Business development manager Rosemary Poole said the airport would welcome any new business "but not at the risk of our existing operators".

Air New Zealand subsidiary Freedom Air launched its budget operations out of Hamilton in November 1995 and now flies to four Australian cities -- Gold Coast, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

"Obviously we will give serious consideration to any operator, though," she said.

Hamilton Mayor David Braithwaite said he would do whatever was needed to help the airport company prepare a case.

"We're very well positioned geographically," he said.

The airport is owned by five Waikato local authorities, including Hamilton City which owns 50 percent.

Virgin Blue last week signed a 17-year deal with Sydney Airports Corporation, allowing it to move to more spacious facilities from next month.

The first of the international services would probably begin around the middle of next year.

Virgin Blue's head of commercial David Huttner said businesses would have to demonstrate a solid case.

There were some cities more appealing than others, but Virgin Blue wanted to give everyone a chance, Mr Huttner said.

The chances of Virgin Blue flying to New Zealand in the short term were looking slim given the uncertainty surrounding the negotiations between Qantas and Air NZ.

Mr Huttner said the airline was more likely to fly to another Pacific destination first if negotiations between Air NZ and Qantas were not completed soon.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name:
Your email:	Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Anti-spam verification:

Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.