Invercargill ‘punching above weight’
Air New Zealand flights into Invercargill are nearly at preCovid-19 levels, a better result than many other parts of the country, a company boss says.
Air New Zealand chairwoman Dame Therese Walsh, who was in Invercargill yesterday speaking to Southland Chamber of Commerce members, said domestic services into the city were at 94 per cent of what they were pre-Covid.
The average in airports across the country was between 70 per cent and 83 per cent so Invercargill was punching above its weight, she said.
And with the city’s airport having 53 return flights a week, more people were on those planes compared to the same period in 2019.
Walsh was in the city with the Air New Zealand board members, saying they had been wanting to get to the bottom of the South Island to talk with the people and understand what was happening in the region.
Chairman of Air New Zealand since just before Covid-19 struck, she said the pandemic had been absolutely devastating for the business which went to five per cent of normal sales and lost one third of its workforce.
The company had been in ‘‘survive’’ mode, but had recently moved to ‘‘revive’’ with the restarting of flights across the tasman.
‘‘Thrive will probably happen when international borders open fulsomely.’’
Domestically, she said the company had capped its maximum airfare prices, including on the Auckland-Invercargill route, from ‘‘somewhere between $400 and $500’’, to $400.
Those highest fares were only for ‘‘last minute travellers on the last couple of seats’’, and a ‘‘good proportion’’ of Air New Zealand flights to and from Invercargill were $150 or under.
She also said cargo freight had increased more than four-fold on Invercargill to Auckland flights, from 1.6 tonnes a month before the pandemic to 6.7 tonnes a month now.
The whole supply chain had been impacted by Covid-19 and Air New Zealand had been providing a lot of cargo space in planes which had otherwise been under-utilised.
‘‘It’s the ability to get things in and out, but in Southland it’s particularly about getting things out in terms of produce.’’
She said Air New Zealand’s last marketing campaign for Southland achieved 4 million views on its website and 100,000 video views.
Walsh is perhaps best known for her former roles as chief operating officer for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and the head of the New Zealand organising committee for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
She was the chief financial officer of the New Zealand Rugby Union at age 29, the first woman in the executive team. But she said having three much older brothers had held her in good stead for working in male dominated organisations.
She had often been mistaken for someone’s secretary, asked to get the coffee and called love, honey and dear over the years.
‘‘But the good thing is I was able to cope with that and get some great positives and benefits out of that experience.’’
‘‘It’s the ability to get things in and out, but in Southland it’s particularly about getting things out in terms of produce.’’ Dame Therese Walsh, Air New Zealand chairwoman