Roger Ludbrook: Why we feel grounded by Air NZ

Empathy from John Key (pictured) over the decision of Air NZ chief executive Christopher Luxon is no comfort. Photo / Simon Baker

Opinion

I never knew the Prime Minister was part of Air New Zealand's PR team, but his supportive soundbites for the airline are going down in the Far North like a cup of cold you-know-what.

While I believe in free markets, you cannot tell me Air NZ's chief executive woke up one day to find routes like Kaitaia suddenly unprofitable. If Air NZ was losing so much money on them, then presumably they were under Rob Fyfe and, before him, Sir Ralph Norris.

So what's changed? The chipper media release of the airline's CEO made me angry but the answer is there in black and white: "In addition to the route withdrawals we will be progressively winding down our 19-seat fleet and moving the remaining destinations to larger 50-seat aircraft."

In other words, the bean counters have written off aircraft of less than 50 seats thereby writing off places like Kaitaia. This isn't about better services. It's about rationalising Air NZ's fleet and a tweak of numbers can easily turn profit into loss.

My hope is that another operator, like Tauranga's Sunair, will stick it to Air NZ and get into bed with a big overseas airline. Air NZ loves to wave the flag but its virtual monopoly on regional routes is revealed in this arbitrary decision. Patriotism is a two-way gate and if this is how provincial New Zealand is treated by the so-called "national carrier" I encourage all Northlanders to choose another airline for their next overseas flight.

It seems par for course on how governments have treated Northland.

I'm sorry for Kaitaia and I feel sorry for our MP, Mike Sabin. He's a good man but it shows you how ineffectual Northland's National MPs are. Even the road rebuild following this year's floods came out of the Beehive. Now we have Air NZ axing services.

The airline's move provides another example of the "Zombie-isation" of provincial New Zealand -- a phrase coined by economist Shamubeel Eaqub. Kaitaia becomes just another provincial town that government will allow to slide towards oblivion and we ought to be grateful. The Government believes everyone can up sticks and move to Auckland. Except that's not reality.

Auckland is growing by draining provincial New Zealand and faces many issues (expensive housing, transport woes, infrastructure pressure and crime). The Greens, when they're not curing Ebola with homeopathy, seem to believe there's a conspiracy to turn New Zealand into a dairy farm. As I see it, the only conspiracy seems to be about turning New Zealand into Auckland.

The belief is that Auckland is our "world city" so Auckland's fertile farmland is viewed as a land bank by lazy urban planners. They believe Auckland will attract swanky head offices and mega-companies.

Don't get me wrong, because I love technology, but the companies behind them are not just capital-intensive but highly mobile; all you need is electricity and a broadband connection.

Even if a Kiwi Google did emerge, it would need to move offshore to get the big bucks to grow. Lanzatech provides an example of what I mean. It also denies the reality that technology is meant to save labour, kind of negating the need for those big head office and big public transport projects designed to suck thousands of workers into a CBD.

Whatever happened to broadband enabling remote working?

Then again, provincial New Zealand isn't exactly the envy of the world as we struggle with reliable 1G let alone 4G. Surely improving this in places like Kaitaia, buttressed with quality roads (we still have one-way bridges up here), medical and social services with air connections, could reduce the pressure on Auckland.

As Northlanders we're over tea and sympathy from politicians who prattle on about regional economic development.

So thank you, Air NZ, for dressing up your fleet rationalisation as some sort of improvement. Thank you, Prime Minister, for your empathy but we need action. My hope is companies like Sunair will not only embarrass Air NZ but provide Kiwis in the regions with genuine choice, New Zealand being about the only thing Kiwi in Air NZ's name.

Roger Ludbrook is the president of Federated Farmers Northland.