Alliance approval protects growth at Wellington Airport
16-Dec-2010 Wellington Airport is pleased that the ACCC’s conditional approval of the Air New Zealand/Virgin Alliance has recognised the need to ensure that growth on trans-Tasman flights to the Capital will not be threatened by the deal.
"The Alliance will bring with it a number of potential benefits to consumers, but as it was initially proposed it also presented a threat to frequency of services and airfares on routes with limited competition. The Wellington region was an active participant in highlighting these concerns and it is reassuring to see that the ACCC has protected growth on routes to our city by specifying minimum capacity conditions for Wellington services" said Steven Fitzgerald CEO of Wellington Airport.
The proposal is hugely significant to the Wellington region as Air New Zealand and Pacific Blue represent 60% of the region's trans-Tasman capacity between them. The airlines collectively provide direct services from Wellington to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. The Alliance must still be approved by the New Zealand Minister of Transport, but if it is approved it will result in Alliance capacity growth of over 10% spread across Wellington's trans-Tasman routes, more than 50,000 extra seats just in time for the Rugby World Cup.
"Subject to the approval of the New Zealand regulators, we look forward to working with the Alliance partners to develop additional services above the minimum capacity requirements. We have identified a number of compelling growth opportunities which we expect will be of interest to the unified trans-Tasman operation" Mr Fitzgerald added.