Carry on: Singapore leads Hong Kong, new SmartGates coming

In 2010, Hong Kong and Singapore were level pegging in airline capacity from New Zealand for either stopovers or as a destination.

In the past five years that has changed dramatically, prompting calls by the tourism industry to object to a renewal of the alliance between Air New Zealand and Cathay Pacific.

Both airlines are seeking to extend their codeshare agreement, in which they share revenue and flights, by another five years. But the Tourism Industry Association has reservations about the benefits at a time when tourist numbers from China are booming.

Analysis by CAPA, the Centre for Aviation, shows airline capacity (ie, the number of seats available) on the Auckland-Hong Kong route has dropped 18% between 2010 and 2015, cutting potential tourism numbers. By comparison, capacity between New Zealand and Singapore has increased 20%, making its potential traffic 45% higher than Hong Kong.

Christchurch Airport, which has up to 10 weekly flights to Singapore, also questions the Hong Kong-Auckland codeshare agreement, saying it restricts potential traffic to other airports in New Zealand.

The wider picture is that Hong Kong is no longer the only entry point into China and the Air NZ-Cathay alliance is catering for fewer passengers. In fact, when Cathay introduces its Airbus A350s to the route, it will cut seat numbers by 6% with the exit of A340s, CAPA says. 

New SmartGates do the one-step 
The government is spending $6 million from the Future Investment Fund to expand and upgrade the SmartGates at Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch airports. Nine new one-step gates will be installed by the end of the year and a further 20 over the next 18-24 months.

The new gates incorporate the passport scanner into the gate, eliminating the kiosk and ticket. Passengers scan their passport and step up to the biometric scanner in a single process.

The government expects international passenger numbers to increase by around 2.3 million to nearly 12.7 million by 2019. Last year, 10.4 million air passengers crossed the border and 96.4% were processed within 45 minutes, which is well above global aviation standard of 90%.

Asia leads visitor growth
Latest travel statistics show the biggest growth in tourists to New Zealand is coming from Asia. China was up 30.3% in the year to June, while travellers from India rose 25.9% and those from Taiwan 37.7%.

Asian markets increased by 120,000 or 58.5% of the 205,000 extra visitors in the 12 months to June. Total visitors were just short of three million, an increase of 7%.

US attracts bigger numbers
The same figures show the US has been by far the single largest destination for New Zealand’s foreign travellers in the June year after Australia. Nearly 175,000, or an increase of 9.2%, went to Hawaii and the US mainland compared with 1.1 million to Australia, a growth of 10.3%. By comparison, numbers to Hong Kong (see above) fell 22%.

The highest growth destinations in Asia are Taiwan (up 25%), Indonesia (23%) and Thailand (21.5%).

Emirates adds Mali to African destinations
Emirates will add Bamako, the capital and largest city of Mali, to its network from October 25. Bamako has a population of about 2.3 million people and is located in the southwestern part of Mali on the Niger River. Mali, one of Africa’s top gold producers, also has four Unesco world heritage sites: Timbuktu, the Old Towns of Djenne, the Tomb of Askia and the Cliff of Bandiagara. The new route is Emirates’ 28th destination in Africa and sixth in West Africa.