Call for AU-NZ flights to be domestic

[damien b]

From the Sydney Morning Herald.

Relax Tasman travel limits, say airports
Jano Gibson Urban Affairs Reporter
July 11, 2008

DIRECT flights from New Zealand to Australia should be treated like domestic trips between Australian cities to boost international traveller numbers, leaders of the tourism industry say.

The idea of bridging the divide between the countries is included in Newcastle Airport's submission to the Federal Government's aviation review.

"New Zealand should be treated as domestic through reduced [customs, immigration and quarantine] requirements," the submission said.

"This would better place Australia as an attractive international tourism destination through improved air accessibility similar to that achieved in the [European Union]."

The concept has been supported by Canberra airport, while Air New Zealand and the Tourism and Transport Forum said relaxing passenger processing regulations would benefit tourism.

New Zealand is Australia's biggest tourism market: more than 1.1 million of its nationals arrived in the past 12 months.

By comparison, 685,000 Britons came to Australia for business or leisure, while 461,000 arrived from the US.

A recent report commissioned by the Premier, Morris Iemma, found the Government had lost billions of dollars in potential tourism revenue since the 2000 Sydney Olympics because of a "doesn't care" attitude.

One of the recommendations by the report's author, John O'Neill, was for Newcastle Airport to become the state's second international aviation hub.

The airport currently has one "international" flight per week to Norfolk Island but hopes to establish direct links to New Zealand and Malaysia in the future.

Its chief executive, Paul Hughes, said the cost of supplying customs, immigration and quarantine facilities made it difficult for regional airports to open up to international carriers.

"To have a range of barriers between the two countries, where the countries are very closely aligned, to me is a restrictive trade opportunity, particularly in terms of tourism," Mr Hughes said.

The managing director of Canberra airport, Stephen Byron, said assisting regional airports to cater for international flights would have benefits elsewhere.

"It helps airports like Newcastle and Canberra play a role in trying to ease the squeeze on Sydney Airport," Mr Byron said.

The friendly rivalry between Australia and New Zealand should not get in the way of attempts to improve tourism opportunities, he said.

"Some people think Kiwis are funny people but other people think Adelaide people are funny people. I think we are all from the same part of the world … and anything we can do to enhance tourism … we should be doing."

The general manager Australia for Air New Zealand, John Harrison, said: "Any reductions in departure and arrival processes should be positive for the tourism industries of both countries."

The executive director of the Tourism and Transport Forum, Olivia Wirth, said long queues at quarantine checkpoints were damaging Australia's reputation.

"We need to look at new measures, such as the one being proposed by Newcastle [Airport]," Ms Wirth said.

A spokesman for the Minister for Infrastructure, Anthony Albanese, said the idea would be considered in the same way as all other submissions to the review.

The Government will release an aviation policy green paper in September, followed by a white paper early next year.

The idea certainly has merit.