Corporate Travel News For South Pacific

Queenstown Airport announced (29-Jun-2017) the two minute passenger 'drop and go' lanes in front of the terminal will be re-introduced from 01-Jul-2017. The kerbside drop-off lanes were restored as part of a NZD4.6 million (USD3.3 million) ground transportation upgrade project. CEO Colin Keel stated: "We originally moved drop-offs there because of safety concerns, but the improvements mean it can now be safely reinstated". [more - original PR]

Qatar Airways awarded (27-Jun-2017) chef George Calombaris an agreement to develop the menu for the new A380 Melbourne-Doha service. The menu will be available to first and business class passengers between 01-Jul-2017 and 30-Sep-2017. [more - original PR]

Qantas advised (28-Jun-2017) it was one of a number of carriers worldwide which experienced issues with the Amadeus booking system, resulting in intermittent outages. Amadeus said the outages were due to a hardware issue and are unrelated to the ransomeware attack that has impacted other companies. Services are operating as scheduled and the system is back to normal. [more - original PR]

Australia's Federal Government announced it is willing to fund the Melbourne Tullamarine Airport rail link to the CBD if the Victoria State Government is unwilling to do so (AAP/3aw, 28-Jun-2017). Acting Public Transport Minister Luke Donnellan said the state wants to conduct a joint state-federal study on the project before it commits any funds. The rail link is expected to be delivered in 15-30 years and projected to require around AUD5 billion (USD3.7 billion).

AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes, via his official Facebook and Twitter accounts, said (27-Jun-2017) the carrier will resume Adelaide service "if we get right deal for airport". As previously reported by CAPA, AirAsia X suspended Kuala Lumpur-Adelaide service in Jan-2015.

Air New Zealand plans to increase Auckland-Shanghai Pudong frequency from daily to 10 times weekly between 18-Jan-2018 and 28-Feb-2018 (Routes Online, 27-Jun-2017). The service will utilise Boeing 787-9 equipment.

Auckland Airport selected (27-Jun-2017) Concession Planning International (CPI) to provide airport commercial planning input for the airport's NZD1.8 billion (USD1.3 billion) terminal redevelopment project. As previously reported by CAPA, Mott MacDonald-led consortium was appointed to design the new facility. Construction to be conducted between 2018 and 2022. [more - original PR]

Jetstar Airways announced it will temporarily reduce frequency on selected regional routes in New Zealand between Jul-2017 and Oct-2017 (Routes Online, 27-Jun-2017). Affected routes include:

• Auckland-New Plymouth: Reduced from 20 to nine times weekly;
• Auckland-Palmerston North: Reduced from 27 to 22 times weekly;
• Wellington-Nelson: Reduced from three times to twice daily (effective 24-Jul-2017).

Regional Express (Rex) reported (27-Jun-2017) the following traffic highlights for May-2017:

• Passengers: 105,000, +6% year-on-year;
• Passenger load factor: 58.7%, +3.4ppts. [more - original PR]

New Zealand Tourism Minister Paula Bennett announced (27-Jun-2017) the panel for the new NZD100 million (USD73 million) Tourism Infrastructure Fund designed to help local communities respond to increased visitor numbers. The panel will be responsible for assessing proposals and recommending a package of infrastructure projects that best aligns with the NZ Government's priorities for the fund. The panel members, appointed for a four year term, are:

• Judy Kirk, chair;
• Norm Thompson, deputy chair;
• Kauahi Ngapora;
• Chris Roberts;
• Sarah Hannan;
• Iain Cossar;
• Bruce Parkes. [more - original PR]