Rumours continue to circulate that Air New Zealand (ANZ) will announce an additional Auckland-London service to commence later this year. But instead of being routed via Los Angeles (as at present) this new service will reach London via Asia. Hong Kong is tipped as the most likely stopping point.
ANZ has enjoyed a direct flight monopoly since British Airways (BA) pulled off the Auckland route several years ago. But ANZ's policy of serving New Zealand via the US neglected the increasing numbers of people wishing to travel from Europe via the traditional Asian routing. It allowed rival carriers such as Emirates, SIA and Cathay Pacific to step in and exploit this market.
Traffic via Asia has grown so much that Emirates, for example, has found enough passengers to fly three times daily between Dubai and Auckland. While SIA now serves Auckland twice daily plus, like Emirates, with other flights to Christchurch.
ANZ is obviously after a share of this business and a recent air treaty between the UK and New Zealand paves the way for expansion. The carrier would still need traffic right approval from the Hong Kong authorities but in London, even if Heathrow couldn't provide a landing slot, ANZ would surely find the red carpet rolled out at Gatwick because the Sussex airport is keen to attract long-haul services.
ANZ's existing US routing is less popular than before because of new security procedures at Los Angeles [Transit passengers at Los Angeles are photographed, fingerprinted and must reclaim and recheck their bags even when the flight is a through service]. ANZ's CEO Bob Fyfe told Business Traveller. "We are meeting customer resistance from passengers travelling through Los Angeles. This is a problem we would look to address."
Finally, the Star Alliance (of which ANZ is a member) is anxious to secure a presence on the key Hong Kong-London route which is almost entirely dominated by rival Oneworld airlines. ANZ's new service would fit the bill.
ANZ declined to confirm or deny the rumours. A spokesperson told Business Traveller, "The UK-Air New Zealand open skies agreement has opened the way for us to increase our services to London. We are looking at all the options but at the end of the day it all depends on what's best for our business."
For more information go to www.airnewzealand.co.uk
Report by Alex McWhirter
