Air NZ deserts heartland
The question is not whether hosting Barack Obama cost millions of dollars, surely. The question can only be, how many million?
On top of the upfront costs – the appearance fee, the accommodation, the security, the marketing, the exclusive dinner with 900 servings of baby pavlova with manuka honey-whipped yoghurt cream and feijoa compote – there are the hidden costs.
How much, for instance, will Air NZ’s ACC levies increase to cover off all those staff with occupational overuse injuries tweeting and retweeting grinning photos of leaders-at-golf President Obama and Air NZ director John Key?
And how much will it cost chairman Tony Carter to take out a hit on Regional Development Minister Shane Jones, who rained so thunderously on Air NZ’s parade this week?
Obama himself uttered a few banal truisms (as Prime Minister and parent, you should ‘‘do the best you can’’) and the odd banal falsism (if countries regularly elected female leaders, war and poverty would be no more).
And then he boarded a private jet to Sydney, leaving Air NZ to count the cost. For what executives surely expected would be the airline’s greatest moment turned into a bit of a write-off.
Oh, for sure, Air NZ was in the headlines – but not for Obama’s visit. Instead, Jones used the opportunity of Air NZ’s extravagance to highlight its cuts to those regional airports and routes that service half New Zealand’s population.
The country is left with the impression that Air NZ has forgotten its roots. Take, for instance, our story today about the airline cutting its maintenance teams from regional airports.
Or even Kiwi cancer battler Jess Spence’s recollection of the day two months ago that a Melbourne cancer hospital called to say they could offer her a miracle (but expensive) treatment – if she could get there the next day.
Air NZ, which boasts of its ‘‘compassionate fares’’ charged her $1600 to change her flights. There were empty seats all around her.
True, Air NZ is a company like any other, charged with returning a dividend to its shareholders. But the biggest of those shareholders is the taxpayer. And the taxpayer is entitled to demand that the national carrier carries the nation.
It was after Obama flew out, perhaps, that he offered the one piece of wisdom that may yet provide more valuable to Air NZ than any presidential tweet.
On Friday night he addressed a private dinner in Sydney, where he was asked about the role of business in a fast-changing world.
Global businesses, he said, had become detached from place. He challenged businesses to take note of people on the ground.
Take note, Air New Zealand.