To address the first of Mr Nixon's points " that Hawke's Bay is missing out on Air New Zealand's latest Night Rider offering " Air New Zealand has clearly announced that Night Rider services will operate on selected domestic trunk and regional routes and that these will be announced periodically. Auckland, Nelson, Christchurch and Palmerston North are the first cities to benefit and other routes will be announced over time, making it premature for Mr Nixon to declare that Hawke's Bay will miss out.
As I stated in my letter, there are practical air traffic control challenges in operating additional late night services into Hawke's Bay Airport and we will continue to work with Airways New Zealand to find a solution.
Second, Mr Nixon stated that if all 50-seat aircraft operating Hawke's Bay services had been replaced with larger 68-seat aircraft the increase in seats would be 36 per cent. While this calculation is correct, it is at the same time misleading.
Air New Zealand matches seat capacity to demand which means that not all flights are being operated by the larger 68-seat aircraft; some are being operated by 50-seat aircraft.
My statement that the progressive introduction of larger aircraft between Hawke's Bay and Auckland has increased seat capacity on this route by 19 per cent over the past five years is absolutely factually correct.
In addition, we have recently begun operating an increased number of larger aircraft between Hawke's Bay and Christchurch, increasing seat capacity on this route by 21 per cent. Unfortunately, Mr Nixon's maths is not based on the actual aircraft mix we operate on these routes.
While I am not aware of the specific occasions from which Mr Nixon was quoting chief executive Christopher Luxon, each of the facts he attributes to Mr Luxon was correct at the dates he provided. In addition, Mr Nixon's attempt to compare average fares on individual routes out of Napier with Infometrics data on the whole domestic market " including our competitors " is not comparing apples with apples.
The reality is that Air New Zealand's average regional airfare has remained largely unchanged for the past five years.
Comparing the airline's new $169 Regional Gotta Go fare, which is a confirmed seat on the chosen flight, with the previous standby offering is again not a fair comparison.
Lastly, I'd like to take the opportunity to remind Mr Nixon that Air New Zealand has a track record of working co-operatively with regional business leaders and stakeholders in Hawke's Bay, including his own Hastings District Council.
We are incredibly proud to play an important role in driving tourism and trade into and out of Hawke's Bay and connecting family and friends.
-Louise Struthers is Air New Zealand group general manager New Zealand and Pacific Islands
-Business and civic leaders, organisers, experts in their field and interest groups can contribute opinions. The views expressed here are the writer's personal opinion, and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz.
