Air New Zealand will fly daily to Houston for most of next winter as demand for travel between New Zealand and Texas continues to soar. Air New Zealand currently operates five services per week to Houston year-round. From 25 March to 27 October 2018 it will increase to a mix of daily services and six services per week, a capacity increase of 16,000 seats on the route over this period. The airline will deploy its newly configured 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft on Auckland-Houston from December 2017, the first time the Dreamliner will regularly service one of Air New Zealand’s North American routes. Air New Zealand’s Chief Revenue Officer Cam Wallace says the airline has steadily grown its Houston operations since it commenced services there in 2015 and it’s fantastic to see strong demand from both ends of the route. “A strategic gateway into America’s south, Houston is unlocking huge demand for travel to New Zealand from across the South, Mid-west and Mid-Atlantic regions, with annual visitor arrivals up 21 percent from Texas and 25 percent from New York. “As a transit hub, Houston also offers Kiwi travellers better onward connections to popular East Coast destinations like New York, Boston and Miami.” The newly configurated 787 offers more premium seating for customers, with 27 Business Premier seats – up from 18 on the existing Air New Zealand Dreamliner, and 33 Premium Economy seats, up from 21. Air New Zealand also offers its popular Economy Skycouch™ alongside the Premium Economy and Business Premier options on services to Houston. Air New Zealand recently launched its global marketing campaign A Better Way to Fly in North America, using a CGI kiwi named Pete in a bid to convince more Americans and Canadians to travel with the airline to New Zealand and Australia.
| An Air New Zealand release || October 11, 2017 |||
#2 - The notion of a world capsized by the weight of its uncontrolled population growth overlapped with the nuclear war fear. It began to dissipate during the 1960s with the advent of readily-available contraceptive science. Yet later in the last century is began to pick up renewed momentum through reports of population expansion in Africa and Asia.
The position now Recognition of this and action in Asia, most famously in China, has allayed these fears. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation report, the most recent comprehensive one on the topic indicates that world population is now stabilising. The population “bomb” syndrome is a rare panic in that it can be ascribed to a single person instead of to a collective. In New Zealand in 2013, Paul Ehrlich, his explosive deadlines still far behind him, nonetheless clung to his original postulation.
| Big Frights of Our Times MSC Newswire Series #2 || Wednesday 10 October 2017 |||
Many believe that New Zealand’s Hollywood suburb Miramar, is in fact Miramax
Beleaguered show business mogul Harvey Weinstein remains the foreigner whose influence detonated the most extraordinary and unexpected New Zealand commercial development of the last century.
The film industry
Lugubrious, ponderous, quick tempered, and impulsive, it was Mr Weinstein who backed the film that launched the third, and ultimately successful wave of New Zealand film making.
This was The Piano with its all -star global cast and subsequent global take up.
So successful was it that Mr Weinstein was to use the piano theme again, in Beautiful Girls.
Then Mr Weinstein went on back New Zealand’s Heavenly Creatures.
Then he gave the initial show of support to the most spectacular product series of New Zealand cinematography in the form of the Tolkien saga.
The one man hit-factory’s New Zealand touch was so accurate in the entertainment industry here that many believed that that the locational hub of the New Zealand industry was actually Miramax instead of being in fact Miramar.
Mr Weinstein’s (pictured) touch is often considered to be behind the comet-like careers of others with New Zealand backgrounds, notably that of Russell Crowe of Master and Commander fame.
New Zealand and Mr Weinstein were lucky enough to collide at the very height of the Miramax golden touch at the cusp of the last century and this one.
Subsequently Miramax went through a series of corporate revolving doors that began to sap the company’s blend of intuitive show-picking along with the personalised business side of the equation needed to sustain it.
Like a protagonist in one of his own films Mr Weinstein failed to foresee the imminence of his own demise.
Sycophants encouraged him in his foolish belief that he was bigger than the game.
Then he got himself on the wrong side of history.
He was oblivious for example to the screamingly obvious fact that as a highly visible, even ghoulish , personification of the big-donor Democratic- Clintonesque epoch, his once acquiescent protectors were melting away.
It was now that the East Coast media, stung by accusation after accusation to the effect that they believed that only Republicans were capable of doing bad things, sought to correct the impression that it had given.
It went looking for a counterbalancing Democratic scalp to put up on its masthead spear.
In terms of notoriety, vulgarity, and sheer name recognition there were none bigger than Harvey Weinstein’s.
| From the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. || Tuesday 10 October 2017 |||
#1 - This was the first of the post World War 2 panics. It held that as a staunch Western ally, New Zealand would become a casualty of any nuclear war between the United States and the USSR.
The position now
According to USSR deep penetration agent Kim Philby, by now a KGB colonel in Moscow, New Zealand’s anti nuclear stance meant that it was removed from the USSR’s list of targets. Thus confirming that New Zealand, until its anti-nuclear era , a staunch United States ally, had been on it in the first place. This threat, the most realistic in our series, has recently resurrected itself in the form of the North Korea rogue state and its ability
| Big Frights of Our Times MSC Newswire Series #1 || Tuesday 10 October 2017 |||
Air New Zealand has started trialling its new Inflight Wi-Fi service on one of its long-haul Boeing 777-300 aircraft. The airline is rolling out Wi-Fi capability across its international jet fleet, beginning with the 777-300 fleet. Further Wi-Fi enabled aircraft will become available progressively over the next couple of months. Air New Zealand is utilising satellite company Inmarsat’s global GX satellite constellation and has partnered with Panasonic Avionics as the in-cabin technology supplier. Air New Zealand Chief Digital Officer Avi Golan says the airline has been working closely with its partners to prepare for the launch of Inflight Wi-Fi which will enable customers to access email, social media channels, web browsing and go shopping while travelling. “We’re launching Inflight Wi-Fi as a trial initially in order to gather customer feedback and ensure it meets the needs of our customers before we roll it out across our international jet fleet. “The service will be available progressively with the installation of Inflight Wi-Fi on our Boeing 777-300 fleet expected to be completed by June 2018 and our Boeing 777-200 fleet rolling out from April next year. “The trial will not only test the technical aspects of the service, it will also gather feedback on pricing options. Going forward, customers will be able to choose to sign up for different timeframes and have the ability to pay in a variety of ways, including with Airpoints Dollars™, as we look to offer a best in class connected inflight experience. “Looking ahead, we’re keen to actively explore new content opportunities and will also make Air New Zealand’s friendly chatbot, Oscar, available to help assist passengers to resolve any travel related questions during their journey,” says Mr Golan.
| An Air New Zealand release || October 9, 2017 |||
Big Frights of Our Times MSC Newswire Series
Starts Tomorrow Tuesday 10 October 2017
“Don’t’ worry,” the saying went “it may never happen!”
None of them have. So far.
In this series we look at the panics of our time. We assess them in the light of today. Were/are they justified? Who started them? What is the situation now?
The first of Air New Zealand’s new-look Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners has touched down in Auckland, with a freshly configured interior offering more premium seating options for customers. The airline has refreshed the cabin configuration for its next four Dreamliner deliveries in response to growing demand for premium travel, increasing the number of Business Premier seats from 18 to 27 and Premium Economy seats from 21 to 33. Air New Zealand Chief Marketing and Customer Officer Mike Tod says the airline is expecting the new cabin layout to be popular with customers. “Since we introduced the Dreamliner, we have seen strong customer demand for our award-winning Business Premier and Premium Economy cabins and the products and service that come with these. Increasing the size of these cabins on our new 787-9 Dreamliners will give more customers than ever the opportunity to experience why Air New Zealand has been named by Airlineratings.com as the best airline in the world for the past four years,” Mr Tod says. Mr Tod says the team at Boeing has been excellent to work with during the design process. “They share our vision of taking comfort in the sky to the next level for more people and have supported Air New Zealand as we set a new benchmark for 787-9 Dreamliner travel,” he says. Boeing Commercial Airplanes Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific & India Sales Dinesh Keskar, says the manufacturer has enjoyed the opportunity to work with the 787-9 Dreamliner launch customer on this reconfiguration of the aircraft. “Since the launch of the 787-9 Dreamliner, Boeing and Air New Zealand have partnered together to bring a new level of capability and comfort to passengers around the world. With the delivery of its tenth 787-9 Dreamliner – and its newly refreshed interior – Air New Zealand is once again demonstrating its commitment to taking the customer experience to the next level,” Dr Keskar says. Air New Zealand was the first airline in the world to take delivery of the revolutionary 787-9 aircraft in 2014 and this latest arrival takes the airline’s fleet to 10 Dreamliners. The delivery is also the airline’s first from Boeing’s facility in North Charleston, South Carolina. The fleet has performed well to date, delivering good fuel efficiencies with each aircraft 20 percent more efficient than the aircraft they have replaced. The latest aircraft, with the tail number ZK-NZL arrived in Auckland just before 7pm last night, Sunday 8 October (local time). Air New Zealand’s newest aircraft is currently scheduled to enter service on Sunday 15 October, operating a service to Sydney. It will be deployed onto the Auckland–Houston route in December 2017, the first time a Dreamliner will regularly service one of the airline’s North American routes.
| An Air New Zealand release || October 09, 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242