BARNZ has provided its response to New Zealand’s air traffic service provider, Airways’, proposals to increase its prices by almost 19% over the next three years.

You can read our response here and here.

BARNZ supports much of what Airways is doing. It is innovating well through investments in digital towers, which should save money and improve services in future. It is also developing a new air traffic management system (at a much lower cost than the Australian equivalent) and a business transformation programme that again should deliver efficiency savings in future.

That said, we are disappointed that operating costs are growing faster than inflation and believe that Airways’ capital charge is unjustifiably high. Unfortunately, Airways’ proposed price increase comes at the same time as other headwinds facing airlines operating in New Zealand – with biosecurity and aviation security costs increasing in July 2019 and Customs charges expected to go up in 2021.

BARNZ and our airline members are increasingly concerned about the cost of air traffic to New Zealand, which must remain competitive if we are to keep growing our tourism industry.