Emirates landing rights in NZ 'not under threat'

New Zealand landing rights for Dubai-based Emirates are not under threat, the Ministry of Transport says, but the nature of the traffic carried by the airline remains under ongoing review.

Opponents of plans by Air New Zealand and Qantas to in effect merge their transtasman operations have pointed to provisions in the air services agreement governing Emirates' rights in New Zealand, and to moves by the ministry to remind the airline of them, as undermining claims that Emirates can be relied on to provide an effective competitive constraint.

The agreement between New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates says that each country's national carrier should "not unduly affect" the interests of the other country's national carrier on services it already offers on part of the same route.

It also requires Emirates to charge "reasonable" fares and gives the ministry the right to approve them.

The ministry said yesterday that twice a year it verifies that every international airline serving New Zealand complies with its licence and the underlying international air services agreement.

Where there were concerns about non-compliance there was provision for consultation between the aeronautical authorities of the two countries involved. "To date no such consultations have occurred with the United Arab Emirates."

Acting Secretary of Transport John Bradbury has said the ministry's monitoring of Emirates services showed only a very small percentage were travelling between the Middle East and New Zealand.

But an Emirates spokesman said "On 2005/06 numbers, we carried about 124,000 people between New Zealand and Dubai and beyond and vice versa. That is hardly negligible."

Emirates treated the New Zealand market very seriously and had added a small but important competitive element for local and international travellers, he said.

The ministry also confirmed it had not passed on the terms of air services agreement with the UAE to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, as it had been published in 1999. "Any interested party can undertake research in the parliamentary papers to locate it."

Wellington International Airport, which has been leading opposition to the Air New Zealand/Qantas tie-up, says the affair showed the invidious position the ministry has been put in, having on the one hand to stick up for Air New Zealand and press for the international agreement to be honoured, while at the same time acting as an amateur competition authority.