Summer attracts Asian airlines

By CHRIS DANIELS aviation writer

The approaching summer boom for the New Zealand tourist industry is leading to a big jump in Asian airlines flying our skies.

One newcomer to the increasingly busy airspace over Auckland is South Korea's Asiana Airlines, which on Tuesday touched down in New Zealand for the first time.

On its Boeing 777-200 was Chan Bup Park, Asiana's president and chief operating officer. He told the Business Herald the travel market between Korea and New Zealand was booming.

"I think this market has a great potential, if we look back from year 2000 to now, every year we have had more than a 30 per cent annual increase in traffic."

That was despite the September 11 attacks, the war in Iraq and Sars.

"On the other routes, our increase in the market has been very sluggish, but in these three years the number of passengers has almost doubled."

He said Korean travellers loved New Zealand, particularly its environment and scenic beauty. Students wanting to study here would also be an important market for Asiana.

But it is not just the Korean market that Asiana hopes will make expansion into New Zealand profitable. It hopes its network in China will make it the airline of choice for that country's booming travel sector.

Asiana hopes the new airport at Inchon, near Seoul, will be a hub for Chinese travellers wanting to holiday in New Zealand.

"We've been focusing on developing destinations in mainland China, with a strategic view, especially as soon as Inchon opened, Inchon airport has an important role as a hub for South-east Asia."

In the past three years the number of Chinese travellers to New Zealand has more than tripled.

Park said Asiana had taken a very careful approach to expanding its range of destinations. Instead of regularly adding new cities, it was increasing frequencies to those places it already flew to.

Asiana has started flying four times a week between Auckland and Seoul.

A member of the Star Alliance, it has close links with Air NZ, with shared frequent-flyer benefits and a likely code-sharing arrangement.

This week also marks the summer expansion of Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, which has increased the number of flights between Auckland and Hong Kong from 10 to 12 a week.

Apart from Mondays and Wednesdays, Cathay will fly between the two cities twice a day.

Cathay New Zealand manager David Figgins said that there was strong demand on the route, particularly during Christmas and New Year, including the Chinese New Year, when most flights were full.

Singapore Airlines is adding three new weekly flights, taking its service to 10 flights a week between Singapore and Auckland. It also flies five times a week between Singapore and Christchurch.