Editorial: Plea to nation's airline

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby

I love living in this country. The weather, the people, the atmosphere. Despite not being born here, I call myself a Kiwi.

What would make it just that much better though, is if more of my family lived here.

It would be nice to have them at least in the same country as me.

I guess, though, I would still question how often I would get to see them. With more and more commitments at home and work, I have less times to venture out, but when I do it needs to be easy, quick and affordable.

Unfortunately, domestic travel in this country is rarely any of those things.

Last week this paper reported that pressure was mounting on Air New Zealand to lower its fares in and out of Tauranga.

A spokesman for Trustpower has spoken out about its battle for cheaper regional flights and Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby also backed the call for cheaper travel.

Their comments came only days after Air New Zealand announced it would be cutting some regional services around the country. They said this would have a positive effect on those airports still offering domestic travel as they could use bigger planes and reduce costs.

Then last week, the airline announced that Tauranga travellers were likely to only see a 5 per cent drop in air fares.

Five per cent is not a lot.

So many people in this country don't get the chance to explore their own back yard and this is a major factor why.

Air New Zealand used to have standby flights, which would cost someone $69. It could also mean a lot of waiting around.

Then there's GrabASeat, a promotional tool that the airline is hugely proud of.

I admit I have used this on occasion, but in this line of work, holidays have to be planned out in advance and you can't just drop everything and go on leave.

I'm sure many places operate the same way.

Trustpower community relations manager Graeme Purches said Tauranga needed more affordable flights and Trustpower was looking at how to curtail its air travel to "avoid costs getting out of hand".

I can easily see how travel costs for companies that rely on doing business in other centres can get out of hand.

It is something that needs to be addressed.

New Zealand is a great place. Why not encourage everyone to see it, for an affordable and reasonable price?