New domestic airline planned for New Zealand
New Zealand could get a new domestic carrier which will plan to serve regional markets being jettisoned by Air New Zealand.
Ewan Wilson, founder of the defunct carrier Kiwi Air, plans a new airline startup set to launch in 2016, which will look to "fill the gaps" left in the domestic market by Air New Zealand’s recent cutbacks.
The so far unnamed new airline would not directly complete with Air NZ on the same routes Wilson said.
"Clearly Air New Zealand has chosen to pull out of certain sectors. We believe Air New Zealand couldn’t make the routes work because there was a lot of overheads in their corporate model that was dumped on the Eagle Air operation and they had the wrong planes operating it," he said.
"Our feeling is Air New Zealand having now stated publicly they’re pulling out of the routes, saying they’re not profitable or sustainable, and encouraging other operators to develop those niches, I think Air New Zealand has paved the way for a new entrant."
Air NZ announced last month it was cutting several domestic routes including Taupo to Wellington, Whangarei to Wellington, and Palmerston North to Nelson.
Wilson said there was a "significant niche opportunity" for airlines to serve regional routes and said the soon to be scrapped Taupo to Wellington route was being "seriously looked at."
Wilson, a former pilot, started Kiwi Air in 1994 but it folded in 1996 and he was subsequently convicted of fraud as a result of the airline’s collapse.
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