Air New Zealand’s former ceo has slammed the carrier’s latest half year financial result, following a loss of $40 million after tax, saying it’s time for the carrier to get back to basics. 
Speaking to NewstalkZB’s Mike Hosking, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says it was an ‘abysmal’ result.
He told Hosking that NZ needs to get back to running a schedule that customers want, with aircraft working on time, and it needs to make sure it has got competitive pricing. “They need to improve the financial and operational performance of that business.”
And whilst Luxon commends new ceo Nikhil Ravishankar and the board’s commitment to do the above, he still holds criticism. “Running an airline is a hard business, but you’ve just seen a Qantas result that’s absolutely outstanding, operating in a similar part of the world,” he continues.
He adds that QF is growing and investing down here, and there’s no reason why NZ can’t do the same. “They’ve got to ask some serious questions about why their financial returns aren’t as good as any other airlines around the world when it’s boom time, and you’ve got to ask questions about operational performance.”
As for the impact airport prices are having, Luxon doesn’t appear sym pathetic, saying QF is operating at airports with similar pricing and charges across Australia and New Zealand.
“The bigger issue is, actually, get back to basics and make sure the business is working as well as it could be.”
As to David Seymour’s calls to sell NZ, Luxon says it’s not something he thinks Kiwis want, adding that government ownership of NZ has been a good thing. “Countries like ours, we need to have an airline so I can’t see that would be something we’d pursue at all.”