The 20,000km journey on China Eastern Airlines only stops in Auckland on the way to South America. Photo \/ Auckland Airport<\/p>\n
Early indications are that the service has been a success in terms of passenger numbers and cargo.<\/p>\n
The service, a \u201cgas and go\u201d which starts in Shanghai, has also helped reimagine Auckland as a hub between East Asia and South America.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a phenomenon all over the place. For example, if there was a flight to Mexico City, it would stimulate travel and tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell said more new non-stop flight opportunities existed for New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe demand is already there for India and the Philippines with resident communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell said in the past, Air NZ was good at drawing European and British visitors into Pacific Island destinations but some of those services decades ago became too expensive to operate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more recent ones are the Chinese carriers … Sure, we\u2019ve got more liberal visa policies but equally we\u2019ve got five Chinese airlines flying in plus Air New Zealand flies [to] Shanghai.\u201d<\/p>\n
Airlines could adopt an expansive attitude, and take a bet on stimulating demand, or shy away from new routes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe latent demand is there. The contrast would be shrinking your way to greatness. Qantas is always growing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell said Qantas would have a very clear strategy, though its details would not be disclosed at a public forum such as the hui.<\/p>\n
The clue, he said, was getting ahead of demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s good, because you\u2019ll grow or you\u2019ll steal [market] share.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flexible fleet<\/p>\n
Qantas is getting more narrowbody Airbus A321XLRs<\/a> and widebody A350s.<\/p>\n The latter are arguably most famously the A350-1000 ULRs for the Project Sunrise flights<\/a> from Sydney to London and New York direct.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in the middle of our largest fleet renewal ever in our history … We\u2019re getting a new aircraft every two or three weeks now so that\u2019s going to provide us with more flexibility,\u201d Wallace said.<\/p>\n \u201cNew Zealand in my view is a very attractive inbound destination so it should be an attractive place in the medium to long-term to deploy aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n But how much time would the airline have if a decision to deploy capacity ahead of demand didn\u2019t work out well?<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a great debate that we have over many years across many markets and it\u2019s very specific to markets.\u201d<\/p>\n In some places, he said, airlines could expect an \u201ceconomic lag factor\u201d.<\/p>\n He said where those routes took time to grow, efforts could be made to raise awareness of a new destination.<\/p>\n Not every new route worked. Wallace said after Covid, Qantas went back to China from Sydney to Shanghai, a hugely competitive market.<\/p>\n But demand had not recovered as the airline anticipated. It ditched that route and at the same time announced a new Brisbane-Manila service. <\/p>\n Wallace also mentioned the company\u2019s dual-brand strategy. Where a route might not work for Qantas, it could for the budget carrier stablemate Jetstar.<\/p>\n \u201cAnother example is South Korea, where we had services there. We deemed it more appropriate for Jetstar.\u201d<\/p>\n A year from now, Qantas is expected to start its Sydney-London service on Project Sunrise. <\/p>\n \u201cNot since Concorde has something transfixed the industry\u201d in this way, Wallace told the hui.<\/p>\n He admitted he had called Project Sunrise a \u201cpublicity stunt\u201d a few years ago. <\/p>\n But now, his colleagues frequently teased him about that as the airline prepared to start selling those flights in the new year.<\/p>\n The NZ Airports Hui continues.<\/p>\nCam Wallace, Qantas International & Freight CEO. Photo \/ John Weekes<\/p>\n