Stuff Article

TVNZ Article

Earlier Fruitbowl Article

Also the cheap flights are much less business friendly than they used to be.  So even a 30% discount to a massive fare doesn’t do it for me. It’s still a punitive fare.

I’m the target market for this  product and I’m not keen at all.  It seems that Air New Zealand is getting the best of both worlds.  Cash up front, but a price they can set at anytime in the future. Doesn’t seem like a win win to me.

AirNZ is protesting strongly about Auckland Airport buying Queenstown Airport because Airport companies crank up all prices and making flying more expensive.  Well this is the next step in the chain.  Expensive flights slow economic development and increase the friction of doing business out of region.

The number one thing for getting people out of region to relocate here is price certainty of flights.

Starfish does’t deliver that.  Anyhoo, here is the full release.  What do you think?

Massive 30% discount for frequent regional flyers

Air New Zealand has further boosted its commitment to regional New Zealand, by offering the opportunity for frequent flyers to slash the cost of their travel.

The airline’s new Starfish Card will see customers receive an automatic 15% or 30% discount on all regional airfare types, including the ridiculously low grabaseat fares.

The new Starfish card, which is valid for one year from date of purchase, will initially be on sale for a two month trial period.

“Our frequent regional flyers have told us they’d like the option of getting even more value for money in recognition of their travel needs,” says Air New Zealand Group General Manager Australasia Bruce Parton.

“I’ve visited customers in twenty towns and cities over the past couple of months listening to this feedback and as a result at the end of next month we will launch the new Starfish card giving big discounts.”

This is one of several regional customer initiatives that the airline will be rolling out over the coming year.

“The Starfish card will appeal to the tens of thousands of customers who travel frequently to and from regional New Zealand. Small to medium businesses will find this card particularly attractive as they start to recover from the effects of the global recession,” says Mr Parton.

“We expect to see stimulation in demand as customers maximise the opportunity to travel at lower costs than ever before.”

Frequent flyers can purchase from two discount options, costing $200 for a 15% discount or $800 for a 30% discount, which applies across all regional airfares including grabaseat, Smart Saver and Flexi Plus fares.

The product will be available for purchase exclusively online through www.myairnz.co.nz from the end of August, with all flight bookings made by logging onto your account via www.airnewzealand.co.nz or www.myairnz.co.nz automatically receiving the discount for one year.

The Starfish card applies to Air New Zealand regional flights, which are defined as originating from or departing to the regional airports:

Blenheim
Gisborne
Hamilton
Hokitika
Invercargill
Kaitaia
Kerikeri
Masterton
Napier
Nelson
New Plymouth

Palmerston North
Rotorua
Taupo
Tauranga
Timaru

Wanaka
Wanganui
Whakatane
Whangarei
Westport

Services between the main city ports of Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch and Queenstown are not included.

“The 15% discount card will provide value for money for those regional customers who currently spend more than $1,400 per year with us, or for those who spend more than $4,000 per year the 30% discount card will be ideal,” says Mr Parton.

Anyone can purchase the card and non-Airpoints members will automatically be provided with an Airpoints membership with the joining fee waived.

Customers will continue to earn Airpoints and Status Points in the same way they do today, based on the fare purchased, and Airpoints can be used to purchase flights.

Ironically I’m writing this from the Koru Lounge in Wellington on the way to Oz and was greeted personally by the fantastic Caroline with an upgrade as they have a full flight. I love Air New Zealand!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NWHJMJ7

I think that most of us are very proud of Air New Zealand.  It’s an admired company for almost all New Zealanders.  We want to support it.

But I disagree strongly with the approach of a upfront fee, to get a discount.  The survey tests a few different combinations of this approach.  I feel that a percentage discount is meaningless as I have no idea what the real fares are.

It’s all about planned price certainty so that we can make decisions on where we live and work. For a commuter, the magic price is $99 exclusive of GST. At that level I think people would fly. No brainer. At that level people choose to live and work from the Bay. I’d buy 50 a year, up front in cash. The variable is what are the booking rules to enable that price point.

For a business to look at selling out of region, maybe they want to schedule a regular monthly trip.  Maybe it’s $149 and they buy 20. That allows businesses to budget for travel costs and make the big a decision to address a market out of region.

I therefore think the proposed pricing approach is wrong. Discounts are meaningless as they don’t provide budgeting certainty.

What do others think?

It is understood that central to the plan is an annual discount card which would be sold for between $1000 and $1500 in return for a discount of between 20 per cent and 35 per cent on any regional fare.

The discount card would also include Koru lounge membership, worth about $600, and all fares would continue to earn airpoints.

The changes were aimed at businesspeople and staff of large organisations who regularly travelled to one of the main centres either for business or weekly commutes to work.

This is encouraging. Air New Zealand acknowledge they have an issue in the regions.

Was anyone local involved in the consultation?

Without seeing any detail I still have some reservations on the approach as presented so far.

1. Most serious travelers will already have a Koru membership.  That has to come off the price
2. What is the price the 35% discount is based off?  I think the price needs to be sub $100 per leg. Discounts are a nice marketing trick. I need to see the dollars.

If anyone at Air New Zealand reads this.  We do like you.  We like the service. We want to keep supporting you because you are the best airline. Just make it affordable and you will get that loyalty back in spades.  I did 4 legs yesterday and have 4 flights next week. We’re doing our part in this relationship.

Have you noticed a difference?

We’re making good progress to get Waimarama beefed up. I know that some people would love to have no coverage out there but for me at least I can spend more time at the beach with the kids if my mobile works. Please be noisey if you want Waimarama fixed.

I’ve been on my iPad 3G on XT for a few days now. It’s fantastic having instant on access anywhere.

Local MP’s Chris Tremain and Craig Foss are today celebrating the approval of extensions to the HB runway by the Minister for State Owned Enterprises, Simon Power.

Approval ensures that all shareholders in the airport are now supportive of the extension.

This is great news!“This completes a lengthy process to begin the physical extension of the runway” says Napier MP Chris Tremain.”

Both Craig Foss and I, together with the Regions Mayors, the Airport Board, and local iwi, have put in a huge amount of work to ensure this result. A key benefit of the extension is the ability to facilitate increased competition.

This is a huge boost to our regions development.”.“This is a project that Chris and I have been working towards for over 4 years” says Craig Foss. “The extension provides us with the key benefit of landing passenger jets thereby facilitating more charter flights for the likes of Rugby World Cup and Mission Concerts”.

“The extension future proofs the airport and provides a stepping stone to for Hawke’s Bays growth alongside the development of the domestic air market with Australia as this grows.”“We’d like to congratulate all those who have collaborated on this project” say both MP’s. “A big thanks to John Pallairet and the Airport Board. It really has been a regional effort and shows what can be achieved when all of us across the region put our minds to the same goal”.

Quote from Minister Simon Power “The Minister for SOEs wishes Hawke’s Bay Airport all the best with their runway development.”

Right from the outset, the team at Tank advocated that Airnet should shift from a ‘me-too’ telecommunications brand into one that felt like a genuine challenger brand – a brand with energy and a willingness to take on the incumbents.

The cornerstone to the brand is a new value proposition that taps into the need of businesses and consumers – the need to remove the complexity that can exist in getting a fit-for-purpose telecommunications solution. Add to this their capability for easily-accessible, skilled support, their local sales and service team, and an established reputation for addressing customers issues, and the solution was obvious – Airnet. It’s Sorted!

A proposition of this magnitude hasn’t been entered into lightly, requiring a strong resolve within the company to deliver against this on every front. The company are scaling their customer service capability and introducing some exciting new products and pricing constructs – the first of these being FREE local calling for businesses on their ADSL2+ network. They are also introducing the Airnet Price Promise, offering customers total peace-of-mind concerning pricing competitiveness.

Airnet’s promotional activity will initially be focussed on existing customers and those that are in the vicinity of the telephone exchanges that Airnet are furnishing with their own equipment. As their capability becomes more widely accessible, so too will the scale of their marketing and sales efforts.

Having worked alongside the talented team at Airnet for close to a year, I can talk with some degree of authority that this is one company to watch as an emerging success story on the Hawke’s Bay landscape. These guys are ambitious and very passionate about what they do.

Check out their new visual identity below, and be sure to support a locally-owned and -operated company, one that will be the driving force in a faster and cheaper broadband service for Hawke’s Bay businesses and consumers.

Airnet – It’s Sorted!

Following a thorough and comprehensive evaluation process, REANNZ has selected FX Networks to provide the national network for KAREN from December 2010. The arrangement secures the continuation of KAREN’s existing 10Gb/s backbone connectivity and footprint around the country for an initial term of 3-years through to December 2013, with two 2-year renewal options.

The contract also includes options to move KAREN to a dark fibre-based network. Moving KAREN to dark fibre-based infrastructure will be essential to ensure KAREN can continue to offer leading-edge network services within a constrained cost base.

“This is the most exciting development for KAREN since the network was launched in 2006. We are confident that we have selected a progressive, long-term partner in FX Networks and have secured the best national connectivity options for our community and provided certainty to our members on cost and presence,” said Donald Clark, REANNZ CEO.

“Over the last 4 years, the demands of our members has driven innovation in network supply and services across the telecommunications industry. In earlier times our investments have helped other network suppliers extend their networks, now we’re helping FX Networks,” said Donald.

On moving to the new network, REANNZ will put into effect a new Network Access Policy. This new policy will provide greater flexibility to REANNZ and KAREN members around access, and use of the network.

Work has already begun on comprehensive transition plan to ensure a smooth cross-over from current national connectivity arrangements to the new arrangements in December.

REANNZ is in late stage contract discussions with the preferred supplier for KAREN’s international network. An announcement on the selected provider will be made later this month.

To find out more, contact:

Donald Clark
Chief Executive
REANNZ
04 913 1090

Jamie Baddeley
General Manager – Sales
FX Networks
021 448 309

I always enjoy coming up here.  The contrast between NZ where 200 years ago we were all in grass skirts, to walking past a 14 century church I have trouble computing.

It still blows me away how our company is quite virtual. We have a big development team in Wellington and we have sales teams around NZ, Australia and the UK.  I met four staff in person for the first time instead of on Skype and Yammer. The team members I’ve never actually spent real time before are on message, really impressive and all have a great sense of humour.

Using online tools we’ve been able to create a global company with a very strong culture.  Compared to doing business 1o years ago it is incredible how coordinated and in sync you can be, even when your team is 28 hours travel time away.

Even further we’ve been able to grow an ecosystem of partners.  They are all connected online and it’s amazing how quickly the community is working together to create value and find new opportunities.

We’re discovering how the internet makes working globally very doable. It’s simply incredible how location is becoming irrelevant if we have the infrastructure to connect. We have a lifestyle that is a fantasy to those that catch the tube to work in the morning, yet we can participate in these huge global markets.

Getting out of the Bay every so often allows you see the amazing opportunities that come with scale, but I have no interest in being based here.  Technology really is letting us have the best of both worlds.

After a week of traveling around England though, I’m looking forward to a real coffee at Hawthornes on Monday.

In order for people in the middle of their careers to live here we need good infrastructure of course, but just as important is reasonable and predictable commuting costs. I’m hearing more and more people complaining about the costs of Air New Zealand flights in and out of the Bay. One of the problems seems to be that the cheaper flight time have moved so they are not that useful for Commuters.

The 9:40 to Wellington, 4:20 return the next day for most of last year I could do for $138.  That was great and those flight times work. This year it’s looking more like a minimum of $248 and often $350+. Doing a day trip, even planned in advance, that includes the first flight is $442. Ouch!

In some of the local Bay business meetings I’ve been involved with I’ve never heard the term Commuter.  I’m one of them. There are many of us that live in the Bay but earn our income elsewhere.  When we see each other during the week in Auckland, Wellington or further afield we smile because we know that we’re going back to the Bay for the weekend.

While it would be great if we could work and live here all year round, the reality is that there will always be a group of people in transition. I believe Commuters are an important part of the Bay business community and we should encourage them as part of our regional development strategy. Commuters are Hawkes Bay ambassadors.  They are fiercely proud. They are sales people for other Hawkes Bay businesses – always on the look out for opportunities they can pass around.  They earn money of the region that is spent here. They pull events here. They connect, and they are likely to pull in further investment.

For the Bay to attract more Commuters, flights are an issue.

I admire Air New Zealand, they are a great company.  But no doubt the uncompetitive regional routes are subsidising the routes with competition.

Perhaps a way to solve this problem is for regions, in conjunction with Air New Zealand, to design a product suitable for Commuters from regional areas.

Maybe it looks like this:

The Commuter 50:

• 25 return tickets (50 legs)
• Prepay $4,999 (less than $100 a leg)
• Website features that allow the standard trip to be set up and then copy for the following selected weeks, including seating preference
• Use it or loose it, but up to 4 credits can be reassigned to later weeks with 1 week notice

The Commuter 50 would allow regions like the Bay to provide certainty of pricing for Commuters and therefore remove this key objection for attracting new valuable residents. This has to be a good deal for Air New Zealand and is a simple practical suggestion that local bodies and business groups can take to them to work through.

What do you think?