Tourism
Uncertainty in the Air
Islands Hedging Bets Against Reductions by Foreign Airlines
South Pacific tourist destinations are being hit by another bout of uncertainty about foreign airlines they rely on for delivering visitors. New Caledonia and Tahiti (French Polynesia) are investing massively in the purchase of wide body jets as insurance against being stripped of service by French long-range carriers. The Cook Islands is begging the Fiji carrier, Air Pacific, to help fill vacuums left by a Canadian airliner and possibly Air New Zealand.
Several highly tourism-dependent countries are nervous about the future of the financially stricken Air New Zealand, which is the primary carrier of tourists to the South Pacific, followed by Air Pacific.
- ADVERTISEMENT -
While the New Zealand government has moved in with a NZ$1- billion bailout for the faltering now-government controlled airline, some reports say Air New Zealand’s survival is not certain. A combination of its own financial troubles and world travel and tourism trends since September has influenced the New Zealand airline to cut some of its flights to or through Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands.
Apart from Korean Air Line flights through Fiji to New Zealand and flights to the two French territories from France by French carriers, Air New Zealand and Air Pacific are now the sole remaining significant carriers of tourists to the region.
 |
|
|
New Caledonia, which has been heavily reliant on Air France for Japanese tourists, has just won approval from France for a US$220 million tax rebate to enable Air Calédonie International (AirCalin) to buy two Airbus A-330s tax-free under a tax-free scheme for development and infrastructure investment in French overseas territories.
Air France and AOM, another French carrier, formerly controlled New Caledonia’s links to metropolitan France. However the recent near-bankruptcy of AOM closed its New Caledonian service. Air France recently dropped the Tokyo-Noumea sector of a flight from Paris.
AirCalin moved in with a leased Airbus A310. AirCalin’s order is for two 278-seater A330s, with both expected to be delivered by November 2002.
Air Tahiti Nui has bought a new Airbus A340-300 and is leasing another. The new aircraft is due to be delivered on March 6 and the second A340-300 on March 15 as a replacement for the A340-200 operated since November 1998. The new aircraft is due to begin flying to Los Angeles on March 13 and to Tokyo on April 20. But the airline’s bid for landing rights at Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris, is still uncertain.
French Polynesia, although still a dependency of France, now has some degree of autonomy in controlling its air traffic rights. Financial difficulties affecting AOM, and uncertainty about the future of Air France’s services to Papeete, have left the territory in doubt over air access to it for tourists from Europe. The territorial government views a dedicated Air Tahiti Nui service to Paris as essential insurance.
The collapse of Canada 3000, a charter operator, and the prospect of a possible curtailing of Air New Zealand services, has driven the Cook Islands to ask Air Pacific and Air Tahiti Nui to operate to Rarotonga. Air Pacific, which briefly ran a service from Fiji in 2000, is considering a return to Rarotonga about June or July.
Air Pacific was stuck by political trouble in Fiji that resulted in a F$38.54 million operating loss last year. Then, like most other airlines it was affected by a global slump of travel occurring after September 11.
“We have to manage extremely carefully and be more than a little agile to survive,” says its new executive, John Campbell. “We are trading in very, very difficult circumstances. If we reach the end of this year (March 31, 2002) at breakeven or very close to it, that will be a $F38-38.5 million turnaround from the previous year. I would love to be able to live with that, but I am not over-confident it can be done.”
Campbell said that after September, Nadi-Los Angles passenger traffic dropped by nearly 30 percent.
“The telling time for us is from early February onwards,” he continued. “The options are to reduce the Los Angeles frequency, which I don’t want to do or change the aircraft gauge from 747 to 767.” However the airline is now noting an improvement in U.S. business that it expects to enable it to maintain and even later this year increase frequencies.
Air Pacific’s Japanese market has also taken a “slight tumble,” Campbell says. But the airline is looking at adding a third flight from Fiji to Narita after mid-April.
One Air Pacific response to the attacks in the United States was to increase services to Australia and New Zealand to catch business turning away from the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Air Pacific’s Brisbane capacity has risen by 50 per cent, Sydney has been given more wide-body B747 and B767 capacity, Melbourne more B767 capacity and Sydney has had twice weekly B737 flights from Suva restored.
Photo: Robert Keith-Reid
