KEY POINTS:
Talks to fill the void about to be left by Air New Zealand at Hamilton Airport are under way, but its future as an international hub is in the air.
The national carrier announced last week that it was axing its twice-weekly transtasman flights from Hamilton Airport to Brisbane from April 25.
At its peak Hamilton Airport had two international airlines and 15 weekly flights to Australia and the Pacific Islands.
But last year overseas passenger numbers fell 15.8 per cent to 86,294.
Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock said discussions between the airport company, which Hamilton City Council has a 50 per cent stake in, were in progress with an unnamed airline.
"The discussions are real and they are being taken very seriously by one airline who are working to make the option possible," said Mr Simcock.
"But for them to then turn commercial and the timing of that is something I can't put a timeline or a percentage chance on," he said.
Hamilton Airport chief executive Chris Doak confirmed the airport company had been in discussions for several months with low-cost airlines but refused to comment further citing commercial sensitivities.
He blamed the "significant incentive" of cheaper flights from Auckland, and the changeover from the lower-cost Freedom Air to Air New Zealand last April also saw an almost instant 38 per cent drop in inbound international passengers.
"I believe Air New Zealand have struggled to make it pay out of Hamilton," said Mr Doak.
The loss of Air New Zealand from the airport is expected to cost at least $2 million in lost revenue, which Mr Doak has labelled "a significant drop".
Air New Zealand Tasman Pacific general manager Glen Sowry said the airline had poured "hundreds of thousands" of dollars into its Hamilton operations but its situation was exacerbated by six airlines offering 70 flights a week to Brisbane from Auckland, a 90-minute drive away.
"What that means is there is tremendous competition in Auckland which makes it very difficult to compete with just two flights from Hamilton a week," he said.
Mr Sowry said nearly all of the fares Air New Zealand had offered out of Hamilton were at the low end of the scale but flights were often less than half-full.
But Hamilton city councillor and former Hamilton Airport director Gordon Chesterman accused Air New Zealand of having a "planned exit strategy". "You don't have to be a brain surgeon to understand if you cut the demand and then make the flights so difficult to catch or co-ordinate then naturally people will look at other options."
Mr Chesterman, who said there had been "tremendous support" for his Ban Air New Zealand campaign, said an economic benefit study showed the value of the airport as an international hub was $80 million to the region annually.
"That value has been destroyed by Air New Zealand," he said.
