Virgin Blue 'looking at domestic flights in NZ'

Airline Virgin Blue has again shown interest in flying domestically within New Zealand.

Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey today said his airline was still looking at "multiple opportunities" for new routes, including flying domestically in New Zealand, The Telegraph newspaper reported in Sydney.

"I'm interested in every single route that can make us some money," he told the Asia Pacific Aviation Summit in Brisbane.

Two years ago, Pacific Blue, the offshore arm of Australia's Virgin Blue, said it would launch New Zealand domestic flights before the end of 2004, with aircraft availability and Auckland terminal access the only unresolved issues.

At the time, Air New Zealand, which controls about 77 per cent of the domestic market, expressed scepticism because its own domestic loads were about 70 per cent of capacity, with flights operated by Jet Connect, the Qantas New Zealand subsidiary, running at about 60 per cent of capacity.

Since then, Pacific Blue has complained that Auckland Airport - whose biggest customer is Air New Zealand - has tried to push it to build its own terminal.

Out of frustration, it tried lobbying the Government to press ahead with a proposal to convert the air force base at Whenuapai on the north side of Auckland into a commercial airport, but in December the Government decided to keep the airbase for up to 10 more years.

- NZPA