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Post by corsair67 on Aug 1, 2007 10:36:50 GMT 12
Another pie-in-the-sky idea falling by the wayside?
Airports still in dark over Kiwijet plans
NZPA | Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Proposed new budget airline Kiwijet says it's on track to set up its low cost domestic service in New Zealand but local airports say they know little of its plans.
Kiwijet founder American Patrick Weil said the airline had financing to operate seven jets on regional routes between nine cities.
The jets would begin operating here late next year and be based at Christchurch International Airport, he said.
But the airport's chief executive Rene Baks said today there had been no dialogue between Kiwijet and airport management.
"We haven't had any discussions at this stage with any other operator. We would be pleased to see another domestic operator. . ." he said.
Mr Baks said his knowledge of the Kiwijet proposal came from media reports about it a few months ago.
Kiwijet said in a statement last week it would fly to and from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Invercargill, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Nelson.
An Auckland Airport spokeswoman said today management had expected to be approached by Kiwijet, but that was yet to happen.
Kiwijet said it had tried to acquire Qantas' Jetconnect operation in New Zealand but that proposal was turned down last month.
The situation had forced changes in the airline's proposal, but it was still going ahead.
The company would use 50-seater Embraer jets and had already pencilled in flight schedules at Auckland and Christchurch that would coincide with international flights from other airlines, it said.
The jets would provide a faster and more comfortable option over the "existing slow, vibrating, noisy and turbulent propeller airplanes of the national carrier".
Passengers would get to sample local beer and wine.
"Unlike the competition, our guests will never have to open their wallets while onboard," the company said.
Passengers would be charged a flat rate and flights between Auckland and Christchurch would be as cheap as $59 on a first-in first-served basis.
Kiwijet said company representatives would be in New Zealand later this year to give public presentations on the proposal.
The company has registered a website in New Zealand and said it would go live from November this year.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Aug 1, 2007 11:05:25 GMT 12
The Tui ad says it all....
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Post by Bruce on Aug 1, 2007 12:54:02 GMT 12
Actually at this phase of setting up an airline it is normal to be pretty quiet about the plans. They arent starting ops until late next year, and the financial model has only just been rebuilt, so they are probably still in the process of working out what infrastructure they will require. With over a year to run they have plenty of time. CityJet took less than 6 months to get the operational infrastructure together (although there were plenty of hiccups!) so I wouldn't read anything into the lack of contact at this stage. I think they at least show signs of doing things properly - they've at least chosen the right aircraft for the job. I wish them well, but hope like crazy thier financial footing is as sound as they say because this sector of the market eats unprepared players....
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Post by corsair67 on Aug 1, 2007 13:14:29 GMT 12
Bruce, you're probably right about the reasons for keeping fairly quiet about their plans, and I guess they're not wanting to give too much away to their competition either?
Virgin Blue announced last year that they were thinking of starting operations between Canberra/Sydney when they recieve their new E170/195 jets - and before you could say "wow, great idea", QANTAS suddenly annouced it was increasing the number of daily flights between Canberra/Sydney with their new Dash-8 Q400 turboprops!
As a consequence, Virgin later announced that Canberra won't be seeing Virgin operating E jets to/from Sydney anytime in the near future!
I truly wish Kiwijet all the best, but I still feel they are going to be really struggling to compete against Air New Zealand and QANTAS in such a small market.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Aug 1, 2007 14:18:24 GMT 12
Anything that forces Air NZ to up it's game domestically is welcome in my opinion.
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Post by corsair67 on Aug 2, 2007 12:48:38 GMT 12
Yes, I think you'll certainly find a lot of people feel that way, Joe.
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Post by amitch on Aug 2, 2007 13:36:57 GMT 12
The only problem with this sort of thing is, it's been done before and never worked. Whether we like it or not, New Zealand is too small for competition in this area.
At $59 for 50 seats, thats only $2950 for a trip from Christchurch to Auckland if the plane is full. Even at twice that amount, how does that over the costs of running the aircraft?
What we don't need is the Qantas type service that has been cut back and then cut back even more, that hardly anyone uses because it's too unreliable.
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Post by corsair67 on Aug 2, 2007 14:03:37 GMT 12
Alex, QANTAS's services in New Zealand certainly need to be improved, and in a way I was surprised that they didn't sell out to Kiwijet. They don't really seem to have their heart in the operation, but maybe they have other plans for their NZ operations at a later stage?
I think that if it was really worthwhile to run a budget operation in NZ, then surely either Jetstar or Virgin would have jumped on the bandwagon by now?
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Post by Bruce on Aug 2, 2007 14:19:23 GMT 12
Its important to realise that not all of the 50 seats will be paying $59.00. There will probably only be 10 - 15 seats on the aircraft at this price, as "loss leaders" the rest will be a more realistic price. The Embraer jets are pretty economical, and providing other overheads such as airport infrastructure are kept slim, it should be acheivable. The problem is when that cost cutting reaches critical areas such as maintenance and training (such as Happened at CityJet) that problems get out of hand. With reasonably new jets, theres a good chance that maintenance costs dont need to be screwed down. The other thing is that the investors can't expect to see any return for the first 5 years, in fact the first few years will be significant losses! are they ready to accept that?
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Post by amitch on Aug 2, 2007 14:51:06 GMT 12
Passengers would be charged a flat rate and flights between Auckland and Christchurch would be as cheap as $59 on a first-in first-served basis. This clearly states a flat rate charging system will be used. ie: one price per seat per trip. Freedom did this a few years ago. I flew with them a few times and the plane was never more than half full. At $3k per leg, there is no money to be made on passengers, include freight, maybe. Hasn't worked yet, can't see this attempt (if it is in act one) getting off the ground either. |
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Post by kiwi on Aug 2, 2007 21:32:44 GMT 12
We seem to have seen this on both sides of the Tasman several times over the years and the only one to have really made it has been Virgin which has huge fincial resouces and business acumen
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Post by Kereru on Sept 13, 2007 9:07:54 GMT 12
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Post by flyjoe180 on Sept 13, 2007 10:57:36 GMT 12
The RJ100 is essentially a BAe146-300. Never been on a 146, what are they like to travel in?
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Post by corsair67 on Sept 13, 2007 11:08:00 GMT 12
Joe, I have been in BAe-146s a couple of times, and I have to admit that they seemed quite roomy inside as far as seating space is concerned.
Most operators couldn't get rid of them fast enough though! ;D
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Post by fletcherfu24 on Sept 15, 2007 13:50:14 GMT 12
I am thinking of starting an airline with a fleet of Fletchers,there will be plenty of legroom as you will be standing in the hopper.
On the low passenger sectors you can sit on the fertilser as we will topdress farms on route.
To avoid expensive airport charges we will be landing in the nearest paddock beside your destination airport,you will just have to jump the fence an leg it to the terminal.
I'm looking for investors willing to put millions in my Swiss bank account.
Well may be not,but its about as pie in the sky as the whole Kiwijet ever happening here.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 19, 2007 12:35:51 GMT 12
Newstalk ZB's Business Report for Wednesday, December 19, 2007 reports: "Domestic airline Kiwijet is working towards opening up its Christchurch head office within the next couple of months.
The proposed regional airline has been plagued by set-backs. The company hopes to be flying by the end of next year."www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=129572 |
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Post by Radialicious on Dec 19, 2007 18:59:54 GMT 12
Ahh, the BAe 146 - four oil leaks connected by an electrical fault...
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Post by flyjoe180 on Feb 13, 2008 19:49:54 GMT 12
Due Dilligence Report Complete
Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 11:22 am
Press Release: kiwijet
MEDIA RELEASE
February 13, 2008 Christchurch, New Zealand: The Kiwijet Airline Company Limited has completed a comprehensive, and highly detailed due diligence report along with regional market, and currency analysis for the 2008/2009 fiscal years.
The analysis revealed and validated Kiwijet’s business plan to operate four British Aerospace RJ-100’s (ARJ) to seven regional centres as well as an additional eight cities after one year of positive operations with an additional four aircraft for a total of eight passenger aircraft.
This report was delayed by a fortnight due to rapidly changing worldwide currency markets and the US economic slowdown.
The report goes on to state that although the outlook is good for expanded domestic services within New Zealand it also indicated that Kiwijet would need a partner airline to provide feeder traffic to and from the domestic trunk, and transtasman sectors in order to have the best chance of success.
As a result of the report Kiwijet is in negotiations with a scheduled Australian carrier to provide such a plan. Due to mutual confidentiality agreements with that carrier we are not in a position to disclose any further details of the scope or scale of the Australian carrier except that it is a fully scheduled international carrier currently utilizing narrowbody single aisle jet aircraft in domestic and international operations.
Kiwijet’s Chief Executive Mr. Patrick Weil made an unannounced visit to Christchurch on January 28th and 29th to meet with Kiwijet’s prospective team members and to look over a potential head office site at the Christchurch International Airport directly atop the airport’s car park. Mr. Weil had been in Australia, and had an opportunity to visit the staff during the long Australia Day weekend. He then continued on to Brisbane and Melbourne.
Mr. Weil has returned to the United States to secure the financing of $ 35,000,000 USD for Kiwijet to launch operations. We have pushed back our launch date to February 2009 or just after the school holidays. This move was requested by the Australian carrier, and allows Kiwijet to have a bit more time to have all aspects of the operation in place to launch operations with four aircraft and a fully trained staff of 260 team members.
On January 22nd Mr. Weil addressed the 5th Annual Asia Pacific Low Cost Airlines Congress in Singapore with great enthusiasm to present Kiwijet’s business plan and case study. In his opening remarks the entire Kiwijet plan was revealed to an audience of more than 500 with special celebrity introductions from such legends as Robby Krieger from “The Doors” and Paul Michael Glaser from “Starsky & Hutch” fame proclaiming that “Soon all Kiwi’s will fly”. Mr. Weil was also on a panel discussion regarding aircraft leasing alongside Mr. Alan Joyce CEO of Jetstar. Mr. Tony Davis CEO of Tiger Airways, and Mr. Stefan Pichler Chief Commercial Director of Virgin/Pacific Blue, and Warwick Brady CEO of Mandala Airlines.
The overall future of Kiwijet looks good, and we are not concerned with the announcement of the national carrier’s intention to place Embraer regional jets into the domestic market. We estimated that these aircraft will not be delivered until late 2012 if ordered now due to a backlog of over 100 aircraft.
Here are the facts regarding these aircraft; As for Embraer E-190 this is an excellent aircraft, however it can only operate into eight or possibly nine airports in New Zealand. We believe that these aircraft will be used to replace aging Boeing 737-300 aircraft currently in use on domestic services. As for the Bombardier Q400-X this aircraft has not even got off the drawing board as of this writing, and the earliest dates that these aircraft could be delivered would be around 2015. Furthermore the British Aerospace RJ-100 can operate into 20 of the 26 commercial airports in New Zealand. With operating costs exactly the same as a twin engine Fokker 100 jet. It is foolish to dismiss the 90 seater RJ-100 as not being a threat, it is.
The national carrier can make big claims regarding serving markets such as Auckland to Invercargill with E-Jets or Boeings but we must remind everyone it was Kiwijet that set the table on May 04, 2007. When so called aviation analysts claimed that the route was never going to work. Where were those geniuses and share traders when the national airline made the announcement of such routes on 03 December 2007?
Additionally Kiwijet will have an advertising budget of three million US Dollars when service begins. However we will not tolerate any media company’s news stories that refer our operations as “Crap” as was the case when (The Press) Fairfax Media on 04-01-08 referred to a non opinion story regarding several flight delays by Pacific Blue. Where is the outrage when the national airline drops the ball? The silence is deafening.
If a newspaper reports such a problem that’s fair game, however when it injects opinion into a story we will pull our advertising without notice and file charges for liable in such a case. We believe that such reporting is disgraceful and should be retracted, and hints to collusion with the national carrier.
The entry of Pacific Blue on the trunk routes just validates our original concept, and we are extremely happy that as a result New Zealanders are getting a fair deal on the trunk but much more needs to be done for the regions and with a level playing field we believe that “Soon all Kiwi’s will fly”.
We will have another media release on March 01, 2008 regarding our progress.
ENDSwww.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0802/S00190.htm
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Post by flyjoe180 on Feb 13, 2008 19:50:46 GMT 12
So it seems the Kiwijet peeps are still trying...
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