Cabinet forms Air NZ committee

By DANIEL RIORDAN

A six-person ministerial committee will deliberate on Singapore Airlines' proposal to lift its stake in Air NZ, Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday.

The Prime Minister was speaking after a cabinet meeting which she said had discussed the process by which the decision would be made.

The ad hoc committee - comprising Helen Clark, Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton, Finance Minister Michael Cullen, Transport Minister Mark Gosche, Tourism Minister Mark Burton and Commerce Minister Paul Swain - would report back to cabinet and a decision made in August, Helen Clark said.

Meanwhile, Australian Transport Minister and Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson flies into Wellington late today to discuss the future of Air NZ/Ansett with Dr Cullen and Mr Gosche.

Mr Anderson, who meets the two ministers tomorrow, has given little away about his view of what should happen, although his concerns are understandably centred on Ansett's continued existence and competition in the Australian domestic marketplace.

He told an Australian tourism conference last week that he had "enormous affection for both Qantas and Ansett and I want to see them both succeed into the future".

His office described as inaccurate an Australian media report suggesting he wanted to dissuade the New Zealand Government from allowing Singapore to raise its stake.

Singapore wants to lift its stake from 25 per cent to 49 per cent, with the blessing of the Air NZ board.

The cabinet did not discuss Virgin Blue's proposal to fly here, Helen Clark said.

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