Branson has his eyes on the Tasman
It appears that the only thing stopping Sir Richard Branson’s Kiwi based airline Pacific Blue from starting a domestic NZ service is a lack of planes, the billionaire entrepreneur said yesterday in Christchurch.
In Christchurch yesterday to celebrate the third birthday of Pacific Blue, as you would expect from Richard Branson, he combined his visit with a publicity stunt, piloting a punt containing two female flight attendants down the Avon River before leaping in the river and dragging the women in with him.
Dripping wet and apologising for the musty smell after wading ashore, Branson said he was proud that Pacific Blue had captured 10% of the market since it launched out of Christchurch in January 2004.
At its launch, Pacific Blue said one of its aims was to bring domestic competition to Air New Zealand and Qantas, but has yet to do so, but with Qantas cutting its New Zealand domestic services, tourism operators and businesses are hoping Pacific Blue will step in.
Branson said yesterday though that he did not want to announce something that he knew he could not yet deliver on, but added, “The only thing that’s holding us back is trying to free up some more equipment and I think it’s a case of watch this space.”
Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue’s Australian parent, has ordered a fleet of 100-seat Embraer regional jets that would suit New Zealand domestic routes and it is anticipated that some of these may be allocated to Pacific Blue, although the airline has said they had all been allocated for domestic services in Australia and Pacific Blue’s 180-seat Boeings would not be economic to run on domestic services because they were too large for the potential market.
Branson said he was keen to see Pacific Blue add new routes and wanted to turn it and Virgin Blue into the best-quality airlines as well as the lowest-cost operators, this meaning having the best seats and entertainment systems as well as competitive frequent-flyer programmes.
He said it was possible to be both a low-cost operator and have high-quality services for business travellers, adding, “It’s the business market that allows us to keep fares down at the back of the plane.”
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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