Airline Consortium proposed to take cornerstone holding in Queenstown Airport

Air New Zealand Group General Manager Australasia Bruce Parton says allowing airlines to invest in Queenstown Airport would ensure one of New Zealand's most important tourism infrastructure assets had the financial strength to grow alongside the rapid rate of capacity being injected by the national carrier Air New Zealand as well as Pacific Blue, Qantas and Jetstar.

"It would also see Queenstown Airport have investors who genuinely understand how to grow tourism into Queenstown - by keeping the cost of travel down. This is in contrast to Auckland International Airport Ltd which has a track record of gouging users like airlines, taxi and rental car companies to the point where they have to put up the cost of travel," Mr Parton says.

"Air New Zealand would be willing to lead a consortium of airlines to take a cornerstone shareholding in Queenstown airport and commit to ensuring the cost of travel stays down. We would not seek any dividends and ask that these be reinvested into the airport infrastructure to ensure it remains world class and can cope with increased demand due to all airlines offering attractive domestic and trans-Tasman fares."

If a consortium arrangement does not eventuate, Air New Zealand would be prepared to consider any proposal to contribute to or underwrite infrastructure development at Queenstown Airport, as the airline has done in the past. This would certainly allow the community to retain full ownership of this important asset.

"We've been committed to growing the Queenstown market for more than 30 years and want to ensure its ongoing success for decades to come. We believe the current arrangement will not be conducive to that and are not surprised by the level of community and business anxiety over AIAL's investment," says Mr Parton.

"AIAL has displayed significant greed over several years and is adept at fleecing travellers; it would be naïve to think it's not aiming to increase airline and airport charges which will ultimately increase the cost of travel into and out of Queenstown."

Mr Parton noted the Otago Daily Times this week quoted Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms describing the deal as positive for Queenstown.

"Such comment was hardly surprising given Craigs Investment Partners has as one of its Directors, James Miller, who is also a member of the AIAL board."

"What was most telling however, was a comment by Mr Timms that AIAL was good at managing airports as it is 'developing expertise at extracting the maximum amount possible from airport operations'.

"It is clearly not in the best interests of travellers or Queenstown tourism generally when it is publicly acknowledged that AIAL is an expert at squeezing every last penny from the travelling public."

Queenstown Airport Corporation's meeting with the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce this week raised further concerns about the sale process. "QAC Chairman Mark Taylor reportedly told the meeting that QAC could have achieved a higher price from another party and admitted that it relied on only one valuation of its business and one valuation of the company's property assets when considering the deal. This is nothing short of shoddy."

Mr Parton says Air New Zealand would support an official investigation into the Queenstown Airport sale by either an Ombudsman or the Office of the Auditor General as suggested by former Local Government Minister and Queenstown Mayor, Warren Cooper.

"We believe the significant issues that have emerged since the deal was announced and the level of community and business concern warrant an official investigation of this nature.

"We are also awaiting a response from the Commerce Commission following our letter to them last Friday asking if they had looked into the deal and what their views were on it," says Mr Parton.