Dec 15, 2017 - Emirates is spreading the festive joy with treats across all cabin classes this December. Customers travelling through Dubai on the airline’s four daily New Zealand services will enjoy several Christmas specials both on the ground and on board from food to entertainment.
In addition to the regionally inspired cuisine served on board, Emirates has brought back its Christmas menu with a more extensive offering of holiday favourites. Emirates’ seasonal menus are a key component of its dining offering and the Christmas menu is one of the main highlights.
The festive meals are available throughout December for customers travelling from Dubai to Australia and New Zealand, Europe, the United States or the United Kingdom,and those travelling from the UK to Dubai.
Customers travelling in Economy Class can enjoy rolled turkey buffé served with cranberry jus lié, mashed potatoes, Vienna chicken sausages and seasonal vegetables. For desserts, customers will be served festive sweets such as a lemon cranberry cake with cream cheese frosting or a cocoa cake with white chocolate chips and raspberry coulis.
Those travelling in First and Business Class will start with king prawns marinated with lemon and herb and served with cocktail sauce and a fennel salad, and enjoy a main course of rolled turkey buffé served with chestnut and apricot stuffing, cranberry jus lié, pumpkin mash and creamy brussels sprouts with turkey bacon. A variety of desserts is available on the different routes including Ginger bread roulade, Chocolate Mint dome and Yule log.
As a special treat, First Class customers, can look out for Santa-inspired macaroons and hot chocolate served with marshmallows and gingerbread. Young fliers in First Class will be surprised with snowman-inspired marshmallow biscuits.
Besides Dom Pérignon , Veuve Cliquot and Moët & Chandon champagnes available on board to celebrate the holidays, those travelling to Europe or Africa can pair their meals with the premium vintage Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 1985 – a rare treat available in December in First class.
Premium customers can also get into the holiday spirit before the flight departs at the seven Emirates lounges found in Dubai International Airport and over 30 Emirates lounges worldwide, including Auckland. Traditional sweets such as Basler Leckerli gingerbread cookies, Christmas cake and Stollen cake are being served as well as roasted turkey in the First Class lounges.
Holiday gifts for all
Emirates is also making sure customers’ Christmas stockings are filled with special goodies. Across all classes, newly designed amenity kits are being introduced for December.
A new range of Bulgari amenity kits are being rolled out in First and Business Class. There are 16 brand new designs for men and women which can be re-used to keep electronics or make-up. The laser-cut pattern is inspired by Bulgari’s design archives with a touch of Middle Eastern influence inspired by Dubai, Emirates’ hub.
The exclusive designer kit bags include new signature Bulgari fragrances and lotions, along with other pampering essentials. The latest kits feature Bulgari’s White Tea fragrance and are available on long-haul night flights and on flights over 10 hours.
The Economy Class amenity kit bags are also getting a refresh in time for the holiday season. The six new designs are inspired by EXPO 2020 which will be hosted by Dubai. Emirates is the Official Airline Partner of Expo 2020 Dubai. The collectable bags feature the key subthemes of EXPO 2020 – Mobility, Sustainability and Opportunity. When arranged together, the kit bags form an image that represent the collaborative spirit of Expo 2020 and the key theme of connecting minds and creating the future.
The kit bags are given out on ultra-long haul flights and feature travel essentials such as socks, matching eye mask and a toothbrush.
In addition, parents travelling with infants will receive an amenity kit especially for baby. The newly designed pouch features Emirates’ iconic Little Traveller characters and contains essentials such as a bib, spoon, baby wipes, changing mat, diaper rash cream and small diaper bag for a comfortable journey.
Special treats for young flyers
Young flyers are given special attention when travelling on Emirates. Kids will enjoy a specially created festive menu with roast turkey, sweet potato mash, carrots and peas, as well as a moist chocolate brownie with cream cheese frosting and a white chocolate lollipop.
As part of the Emirates Fly With Me Animals range, a special limited edition character will greet young travellers. Noel the polar bear, decked out in a festive red scarf, will be introduced on board to coincide with the Christmas season and will only be available in December.
Noel will be available as a Travel Buddy which comes with a plastic toggle allowing the toy to be hung in the car, on a pram or in the cot and the Carry Buddy, a dual purpose toy and blanket.
Christmas classics on ice
To get travellers into the spirit of the holidays, Emirates’ award-winning inflight entertainment system, ice, features Christmas classics for the month of December. These include movies such as It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alone and Scrooged, as well as TV specials including The Office and Family Guy Christmas shows. Customers can enjoy over 2,500 channels of entertainment including Christmas number 1s music playlist for the first time this year and dedicated kids’ TV channels. Special programmes for kids include The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and The Snowman.
Emirates offers customers across all classes 20MB of free Wi-Fi data to keep connected with friends and family, and Emirates Skywards members enjoy special benefits depending on membership tier and class of travel.
For those looking to brush up on a new language in the New Year, the airline has added 10 new uTalk language channels including Japanese, Swedish, Brazilian, Portuguese, and Turkish.
Last minute holiday shopping
The Emirates Official Store has a range of new Christmas inspired products for those still looking for gifts. These include a limited edition red First Class blanket, and Christmas sweaters and festive pyjamas for the whole family. Other gifts include Santa teddies, tree decorations and greeting cards. These are also available in stores and online at www.emirates.store.
Last minute shoppers can also get gifts on board with brand new products and special offers in the Emirates duty free collection. Shoppers will find over 100 new items in the collection as well as Emirates official merchandise. Special deals include discounts when purchasing 2 or more fragrances.
Dec 11, 2017 - Speech: Finance Minister Grant Robertson to the Auckland Chamber of CommerceThank you to the Chamber for inviting me to speak here today.
This morning I’d like to talk to you about the Government’s key priorities and policies for the economy and businesses, give an update on the Budget 2018 process, and more specifically discuss our approach to supporting this city and region.
We have an ambitious plan for transitioning New Zealand to fairer and more sustainable economic growth, while responsibly managing the Government’s books.
In forming a Government, Labour, New Zealand First, and the Greens have committed to a shared purpose – that of working towards a fairer and better New Zealand.
In both the Coalition Agreement between Labour and New Zealand First, and the Confidence and Supply Agreement between Labour and the Greens, there is a common mission statement that reads:
“Together, we will work to provide New Zealand with a transformational Government, committed to resolving the greatest long-term challenges for the country, including sustainable economic development, increased exports and decent jobs paying higher wages, a healthy environment, a fair society and good Government. We will reduce inequality and poverty and improve the wellbeing of all New Zealanders and the environment we live in.”
I am very conscious that we as a Government set a positive tone for the future of the New Zealand economy and its people. And there is every reason to be optimistic.
We have a strong economic base: Our wonderful environment that is the backbone of our primary industries and tourism; innovative and creative people who work hard – harder, in fact, than in almost any other country in the world; and we have global and progressive outlook on the world.
But it is important that as the Government moves forward, we are open and transparent about where the country is at.
Internationally competitive rates of GDP growth are a good start – but in New Zealand our GDP numbers are masked by an over-reliance on population growth and an overheated housing market as predominant drivers for headline economic activity.
Per person GDP has been under one percent and compares far less favourably with our OECD counterparts. We have had almost zero labour productivity growth for five years. Put simply, more people are working longer hours, but our output is not improving in proportion to that extra work.
By far the biggest issue is that too many people have missed out on a share in prosperity. This was the message I got in boardrooms and smoko rooms around the country during the election campaign.No one wanted to stop economic progress, but almost everyone was uncomfortable with a New Zealand where our rates of homelessness and inequality were growing, while our rates of home ownership and social mobility were declining.
Last week, the advice from officials to the incoming Government was released, and I think it is timely to mention a couple of things that were highlighted, which will help explain this Government’s priorities over the next few years.
In housing the message was clear. The failing housing market is leading to inequality between the old and young, and the rich and the poor. It is harming our productivity. And this is affecting the overall economy. Housing officials have told us we are 45,000 houses short in Auckland alone, and nearer to 70,000 around the country.
That is why we have put such a premium on fixing the housing crisis.
We have already begun work on addressing demand side pressures with the introduction of the ban on overseas speculators buying residential property, and we will shortly move to extend the bright line test to five years and crack down on the use of negative gearing.
On the supply side we will be building more state houses and tackling homelessness. If the previous Government had built extra state houses each year instead of selling the stock down by 5,000, we simply wouldn’t have the homelessness problem we do now.
And, we are establishing our KiwiBuild programme to build 100,000 affordable homes exclusively for first home buyers over the next ten years. To do this, we will be slowing down our overall debt reduction programme a little to give us the capital to get on with this work which New Zealand desperately needs.
The Acting Reserve Bank Governor recently acknowledged that our programme of work had in part already given him the confidence to start relaxing Loan-to-Value Ratio restrictions.
It is a sad thing to say – but the previous Government had effectively outsourced its responsibility to create the conditions for a stable and affordable housing market to the Reserve Bank. We understand our responsibilities. We need to do this work to fix the housing crisis.
I will give one other example of what we are facing in Government – an example of the need to invest in public services. That is in the health sector. The briefing to the incoming Health Minister said that the health system urgently needs to find new ways to meet demand and reduce inequalities.
Officials are concerned that many of the most vulnerable New Zealanders are missing out on the primary healthcare they need. Nearly half a million Kiwis did not go to the doctor last year because of the cost. Not only is this bad for these people but it actually adds to the bill for taxpayers because more Kiwis will end up needing more expensive, hospital-based treatment as a result.
Fixing this is not just about putting in more money. It is also about a more effective and efficient healthcare system. After nine years of not being funded properly to keep up with the changing nature of our population or even inflation, New Zealand’s health system can no longer cope.
This is a basic breakdown in one of the building blocks of a decent society – that there is a health system that will look after you if you get sick and will help you stay healthy. The Government cannot just be an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff trying to deal with an ever-bigger bill. This is why we are redirecting money that had been promised by the previous Government in across-the-board tax cuts to more targeted spending – on health, education, and for families with children.
We can make these investments while not having to increase taxes. We do this by having different priorities to the previous Government – reversing the proposed tax cuts and giving ourselves two extra years to meet the Government’s debt reduction target.
We are also pursuing the multinationals and tax evaders who do not pay their fair share. This week, a bill to implement changes to rules around base erosion and profit shifting will have its first reading in Parliament.
My colleague Stuart Nash is also working with IRD on further steps to push multinationals to pay their fair share, and is building on the previous Government’s work on the taxation of on-line purchases to ensure a level playing field when it comes to GST.
We can provide the public services that New Zealanders want and deserve, and build a strong economy. This will mean doing some things differently and investing more now to get the payoff for New Zealand over the long term.
We can pay for the plans we have made and the policies in the agreements we have signed. But there are still other cost pressures to meet and programmes to deliver. I have asked my Ministerial colleagues to re-assess current programmes to ensure they match this Government’s priorities and are value for money. Any such re-prioritisations will be reinvested to meet the cost pressures we face.
This twin approach of investing to deliver social justice while being responsible with our finances very much mirrors who I am and my background. I grew up in the cloak of a Presbyterian family in Dunedin. Today I still try to live by the values that my mother taught me – we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers; treat others as you wish to be treated; and that if you work hard you will achieve your goals.
I have also taken the extra precaution of having two Associate Finance Ministers steeped in the background of parsimonious southern Presbyterianism in David Parker and David Clark. The latter being an ordained Minister for good measure.
I also worked in the Fifth Labour Government as an advisor to Helen Clark. I saw first-hand how she and Michael Cullen were able to lead a Government that was fiscally disciplined, ran surpluses, paid down debt, and had the lowest unemployment rates in the OECD, while also delivering progressive social programmes like Working for Families, 20 hours free early childhood education, interest free student loans, Kiwisaver and more.
We have done this before – and we will do it again.
Economic StrategyThis time around we also know we need to transition our economy to the 21st Century. This does mean doing things differently. The aim of our economic strategy is to improve the living standards of New Zealanders through sustainable and inclusive growth.
Success cannot be measured by GDP alone, although this remains an important measure of headline economic activity. Rather, we must take a different view of what constitutes a successful economy, along with broader measures of what success looks like.
We have committed to working on new sustainable development indicators. In addition to this work I have instructed the Treasury to accelerate its work on the Living Standards Framework. This Framework focuses on measuring our success in developing four capitals – financial, natural, human, and social capital. By assessing our performance across a wider range of measures we will see a much clearer picture of the effectiveness of our policies and how they benefit New Zealanders’ wellbeing.
In Opposition I led a major project for the Labour Party on the Future of Work. I am very grateful that Michael Barnett helped us as we developed that work. The core conclusion was that, while we cannot predict exactly what the future holds, we can prepare ourselves.
We are seeking a resilient, adaptable and inclusive approach to transition to a world where technology and changing patterns of work offer both huge challenges and opportunities. This has informed our policy in areas such as education, research and innovation, the labour market and social policy.
We are also going to put a fresh set of eyes on core aspects of our economy, including through a review of the Reserve Bank Act. You can be assured that this will maintain a focus on price stability. But we will widen the Bank’s objectives so that it gives due consideration to maximising employment when it makes monetary policy decisions.
We are also setting up a Tax Working Group under the leadership of Sir Michael Cullen to develop recommendations to get a better balance across our tax system to support the productive sector rather than speculation.
Budget Responsibility RulesFor us to keep being able to afford the policies necessary to achieve higher living standards we must remain fiscally responsible. It goes without saying that a Government that presides over high deficits, increasing debt, or a shrinking economy could not provide the quality public services that New Zealanders want and deserve. That is why we have developed and committed to our Budget Responsibility Rules.
Firstly, we will deliver a sustainable operating surplus across an economic cycle. We will not generate artificial surpluses by underfunding key areas such as health, education, and infrastructure. Our surpluses will exist after we have funded our policy objectives – this is what we mean by a ‘sustainable surplus’.
Secondly, we will reduce the level of net core Crown debt to 20 percent of GDP within five years of taking office. While New Zealand already has low levels of Government debt relative to many of our overseas peers, we remain vulnerable to shocks such as earthquakes and other natural disasters. We have made our commitment to debt reduction to ensure that future generations of New Zealanders are in a position to be able to respond effectively to any such shock.
Thirdly, this Government will prioritise investments to address the long-term financial and sustainability challenges facing New Zealand, such as restarting contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which will happen in our first 100 days. We will also invest in the infrastructure required to support our growing population and reduce the risks posed by climate change.
Fourthly, we will maintain Government expenditure within the recent historical range of spending to GDP, which has averaged around 30 percent over the last 20 years. While the quantity of publicspending is important, it is the quality of that spending that is a major determinant in whether our policies achieve their outcomes.
We have accounted for all of our policy programme. As you will see in this week’s Budget Policy Statement and the Treasury’s Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update, this Government will meet its 100 Day Plan commitments by reversing the previous Government’s tax cuts. And, through our operating and capital allowances we can deliver the remainder of our programme while meeting the Budget Responsibility Rules.
However, we will continue to look closely at all Government expenditure to make sure that it is being directed effectively – towards improving all New Zealanders’ wellbeing.
Lastly on the Budget Responsibility Rules, we will ensure a progressive taxation system that is fair, balanced, and promotes the long-term sustainability and productivity of the economy. As noted, Sir Michael’s group will be making their recommendations to us about this by early 2019. This review isn’t a revenue-grab – one option is that the recommendations are fiscally neutral. It is a responsible review of New Zealand’s tax system to ensure it is appropriate for the 21st Century.
100 Day Plan/HYEFU and Budget Policy StatementThe new Government was sworn in on the 26th of October, less than two months ago. Since then, the main focus has been the implementation of our 100 Day Plan. We are making excellent progress.
We have seen:
– The passing of the Paid Parental Leave Bill to extend this to 26 weeks
– The passing of the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill to improve the minimum standards for rental housing
– Confirming the details of our fees free post-secondary school education and training policy commencing on 1 January 2018, along with an increase of $50 per week for student allowances and living cost component of student loans.
And much more besides. The next big step is the introduction of our Families Package. This will be one of the major initiatives of this Government.
We are committed to lifting children out of poverty at a faster rate than the previous Government, and supporting low- and middle-income families, particularly in the critical early years of their children’s lives.
We will boost Working for Families, introduce the Best Start payment for children in the first three years of life, put in place a Winter Energy Payment for superannuitants and those receiving a main benefit, restore the Independent Earner Tax Credit the previous Government cancelled and commit to boosting the Accommodation Supplement.
More details will be provided in the near future, but this is a substantial initiative paid for, as I said earlier, by reversing the across-the-board tax cuts, which were promised by the previous Government but have not yet begun.
The 100 Day Plan, along with Labour’s remaining policies in the pre-election Fiscal Plan; the Coalition Agreement between Labour and the New Zealand First Party; and the Confidence and Supply Agreement between Labour and the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, lay out the agenda of the new Government.
This means a different approach to the way we will shape Budget 2018. There will not be a slew of new initiatives released in the weeks heading into that Budget. The plan is already out there.
The first steps towards Budget 2018 will come this Thursday.
This is when Treasury announces its regular Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update, or the HYEFU, where it details its latest forecasts for the economy and the Government’s fiscal track. Alongside this, we are announcing a Budget Policy Statement, setting out our economic strategy and kicking off the Budget 2018 process.
I’ll just give an overview of how this will all play out.
The Government was formed early enough during the Treasury’s forecasting and HYEFU cycle – just – that we were able include officials’ work on our 100 Day Plan costs into the Half Year Update.
So the likes of our Families Package, Fees-Free Post-Secondary Education and Training, Paid Parental Leave, the $2 billion capital injection for KiwiBuild, and our plan to restart contributions to the New Zealand Super Fund, are all included in the ‘base’ projections we’re starting from.
These policies have been costed using Treasury’s normal process ahead of Budget announcements. Because of where the election fell, and the ambition of our 100 Day Plan, we were able to incorporate them into the accounts and the Budget process in December, rather than waiting for May to roll around.
That’s not to say we’ll have nothing to talk about at Budget 2018, or 2019. A second document on Thursday will be our Budget Policy Statement. This will set out the operating and capital allowances we have set for the next few Budgets.
These allowances provide the room for the rest of this Government’s policy agenda beyond the 100 Day Plan. Detailed work has already begun on these policies as we head towards Budget 2018. They are now being put through the Budget process to get final costings and design as officials work towards May.
I will leave the detailed announcements for Thursday but, suffice to say, I am confident we can meet our Budget Responsibility Rules while advancing our comprehensive programme.
Auckland InfrastructureI want to spend some time now talking about infrastructure, particularly as it relates to Auckland.
It is stating the obvious that Auckland faces significant infrastructure challenges. The gridlock on Auckland’s roads is costing $1.3 billion a year. The housing crisis is dragging down productivity and speculation has also sucked vast amounts of the country’s wealth into buying and selling houses instead of investing in productive firms that generate jobs and exports.
We will not shy away from these challenges. Our Government recognises the failure to manage urban growth is a huge drag on the economy.
We have a comprehensive reform agenda. I have already mentioned the specific housing policies that will address the housing crisis. But more systemic change is needed.
We are going to establish a Housing Commission, an urban development authority to cut through the red tape and lead large urban development projects – building whole communities at scale and at pace.
All of this is underpinned by our Urban Growth Agenda – a set of reforms designed to get the market more responsive to demand. We need competitive urban land markets to bring down the very high cost of urban land that is at the heart of our problems. It’s a five point plan:
1. Turning on the tap of infrastructure finance, for example, infrastructure bonds serviced by a targeted rate, building on the work done with Crown Infrastructure Partners;
2. Designing a more pro-growth planning system that allows the city to make room for growth instead of choking it off;
3. More robust spatial planning by central and local government;
4. Investigating a GPS-based network or transport pricing system. This will allow us to fully internalise transport costs so that roads and motorways aren’t a disguised subsidy for sprawl; and
5. Possible legislative reform to support this new approach.
The Government is looking at alternatives for the East-West link. We will be making an investment in that corridor, but not the $2 billion option proposed by the previous Government. While we obviously see the need for making large investments into Auckland’s transport system, we do not believe paying $327 million per kilometre is good value for money. I am not interested in setting the record for building the most expensive road in the world.
One of our major priorities is to roll out a 21st Century rapid transport system for Auckland.
We are committed to implementing a $15 billion, 10-year programme to build this rapid transit system – including light rail from the CBD to the airport and out to West Auckland. We are also investigating third-tracking the main trunk rail line and electrifying the rail line to Pukekohe.
We have allowed the Auckland Council to charge an additional fuel tax to help with some of this funding. We are also investigating funding options such as infrastructure bonds, and we will be opening up use of the Land Transport Fund beyond just roading projects.
We cannot carry out an ambitious programme like this, or for other infrastructure, alone. We want to ensure that the Crown and Maori work together effectively as we move towards the end of the Treaty settlement process. We are committed to working with Iwi to achieve our infrastructure goals.
We also want to work with those in the private sector who are willing to be partners in building and modernising our infrastructure.
Yes, this can include Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs). We don’t believe PPPs have a place in schools and hospitals, but there is a potential for partnerships which can be used to drive productive and sustainable growth where they are appropriate.Beyond AucklandIt is, of course, important to invest outside of Auckland too. While Auckland has been growing (at times beyond its means), many parts of regional New Zealand have been left behind.
The Provincial Growth Fund, developed in conjunction with New Zealand First, will help ensure inclusive growth across all of New Zealand. We will invest $1 billion per year to provide infrastructure and investment to help our regions recognise their economic potential.
We will fund projects including the expansion of regional rail, the planting of 1 billion trees over the next 10 years, and other important capital projects. We also intend to commission a study into the future of the Upper North Island ports.
There isn’t enough time today to go into the remainder of our programme, but I want to mention in closing two issues I know are important to the business community.
I want to re-affirm today our commitment to negotiating and signing quality trade agreements. Under this Government, New Zealand will remain open to the global economy through progressive trade policy.
We will pursue Free Trade Agreements that are beneficial to New Zealanders and our interests. We renegotiated the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership so that it is now in line with Kiwis’ interests, and we will continue to look at similar high quality agreements.
However, we know that Kiwis do not want to be tenants in their own country. While we remain open to the world and welcome overseas investment that adds jobs, improves productivity, and adds to our housing stock, we are not open to overseas speculators who simply drive up our cost of living.
And so we will change the Overseas Investment Act to ban foreign overseas speculators from the existing housing market.
Likewise, in remaining open to the world we need to have immigration policies that support our goals. New Zealand will always need migrants who provide essential skills. We want to facilitate that, and I want to assure you that where you have a genuine skills gap that the settings will not change.
But, at the same time we cannot allow immigration settings to drive low quality international education that actually exploits the students who come here. Nor do we think that the huge rise in temporary work visas should continue in areas where there are and should be New Zealanders able to take up the work.
ConclusionThe Government has already made great progress on its 100 Day Plan. We are off to a running start. We have highlighted our priorities, and we will continue to implement the policies we campaigned on and agreed to with New Zealand First and the Green Party, looking towards Budget 2018 and beyond.
We will be there beside New Zealand businesses in building an economy that is fair and inclusive. We want to ensure that all Kiwis prosper from the benefits of economic growth. We want to partner with you to tackle the long-term challenges facing this country. It is in all of our interests to work toward creating shared prosperity in New Zealand.
Thank you
| A Bheehive release || December 11, 2017 |||
Dec 7, 2017 - Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines today announced they will jointly launch a third daily flight between Auckland and Singapore from 28 October 2018, boosting capacity on the route by up to 40 percent and adding more than 165,000 seats annually between the two cities. The additional service, along with a revision of current schedules, will shorten connection times and improve connectivity through the Singapore hub. The new service will operate daily during the peak Northern Winter season (28 October 2018 – 30 March 2019), and five times per week during the Northern Summer season (31 March 2019 – 26 October 2019). During peak months the airlines will jointly operate a total of 35 return services a week between Singapore and New Zealand, including Christchurch and Wellington flights. Under their joint venture alliance that took effect in January 2015 the airlines will continue to operate one daily return service each on the Auckland-Singapore route, with a third service operated by Singapore Airlines during the Northern Winter season and Air New Zealand during the Northern Summer season. Air New Zealand will operate its new configuration 787-9 aircraft, offering more Premium Economy and Business Premier seats than its current 787-9 fleet. Singapore Airlines will operate a mix of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777-300ERs, depending on the season. Air New Zealand Chief Strategy, Networks and Alliances Officer, Nick Judd, expects the new service and revised schedules to be especially appealing to travellers to and from Europe, India and Southeast Asia. “Singapore’s Changi Airport has been named Skytrax World’s Best Airport for the past five years and with connection times with European services now three hours or less this is a very comfortable and convenient transit stop for travellers in both directions.” Singapore Airlines Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, Mr Tan Kai Ping, said: “Our alliance with Air New Zealand has already benefited customers through more capacity, choice, improved connections and more codeshare destinations. We are proud of the alliance’s three destinations in New Zealand - Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. The new flight to Auckland will increase convenience for our customers and demonstrates our commitment to the New Zealand market.” The new joint service and revised flight schedules are subject to regulatory approvals. Tickets for the new Auckland-Singapore service will be on sale from tomorrow (8 December 2017). | A joint airline release || December 7, 2017 |||
Dec 4, 2017 - Uncertainty over Brexit means New Zealand needs to urgently focus on developing brands and differentiating our agricultural exports. Senior lecturer in Agribusiness Management, Dr Nic Lees, said New Zealand produces some of the best fruit, wine, meat, seafood and dairy products in the world but around 70 per cent reaches the consumer with no identification that is sourced from here.
“Sudden changes such as Brexit remind us that relying on undifferentiated commodity exports leaves us vulnerable to sudden changes in government policies,” Dr Lees said.
“When consumers demand a branded product, it is difficult for governments to shut it out of the market.”
Forty-four years ago, Britain joined the European Common Market. At the time Britain took approximately 90 per cent of our butter, 75 per cent of our cheese and about 80 per cent of our lamb exports. Britain had to adopt the European “common agricultural policy” which imposed tariffs and quotas on non-European agricultural imports
This meant New Zealand was effectively shut out of our largest agricultural export market. At the time, most of these products were being exported as commodities, frozen lamb carcasses and blocks of cheese. The only branded product was Anchor butter.
For the next thirty years the New Zealand economy suffered as we searched for new markets and attempted to develop alternative industries. China has replaced Britain as our largest market. However, 70-80 per cent of our food exports are still sold as commodity products.
“We need to develop differentiated and branded products that consumers demand,” he said.
“We can learn a lesson from Anchor butter, as it is a brand that is still strong in the British market.”
However, he said, New Zealand has never been good at marketing our food products.
“Despite our reliance on food exports, Lincoln University provides the only specialist food marketing degree in New Zealand. The Bachelor of Agribusiness and Food Marketing was developed due to a call from industry for graduates who understand the specialised nature of producing and marketing our food products.
“It is an integrated degree covering agribusiness management, food science, supply chain management and food marketing. This provides students with a unique set of skills specifically focused on preparing them for marketing the unique features of New Zealand food products.”
He said Zespri kiwifruit and New Zealand wine have led the way in developing strong brands that consumers demand.
“Unfortunately, most other industries still focus primarily on commodity trading.”
The development of synthetic alternatives to meat and milk also calls for stronger branding.
“Developing a culture of marketing and meeting consumer demands for natural health foods provides New Zealand with a way to capture more value from our exports.
“To do this we need graduates going into the industry with an understanding of the whole value chain and who are passionate about positioning New Zealand food as a premium product branded and targeted at specific consumers.,” Dr Lees said.
| A Lincoln University release || December 4, 2017 ||||
Nov 20, 2017 - AirAsia is the best low-cost airline in the world and CEO Tony Fernandes wants to shift the airline’s business towards e-commerce launching a payments platform called BigPay. Fernandes also believes the first class cabin is going away within five years. Sixteen years ago, Tony Fernandes, with a small group of intrepid entrepreneurs, took over a failing Malaysian Government-owned airline for $US0.25 and the promise to assume its $US11 million in debt.
Since then, AirAsia has helped bring affordable flying to the masses in South East Asia. In the process, the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based company has become one of the most disruptive forces in commercial aviation history while making the always affable Fernandes a rockstar in the business world.
What started as a two-plane operation has now expanded to a fleet of more than 150 Airbus A320 jets with another 200 aircraft on order. And for the past nine years, AirAsia has been named the best low-cost airline in the world by Skytrax and its reviewers.
Recently, Fernandes spent a morning with the Business Insider at our headquarters in New York. Our conversation touched upon several topics including the company’s future endeavours in e-commerce, AirAsia’s move towards fintech, where the airline industry is going, and advice from his mentor Sir Richard Branson.
AirAsia is betting big on e-commerceFor the airline’s next great adventure, Fernandes wants to move AirAsia’s revenue model beyond simply selling tickets and into the world of e-commerce. With an ample supply of customer data, AirAsia wants to anchor its new e-commerce operation around the sale of duty-free goods.
“So when you book your ticket (online), we’ll offer you the chance to buy duty-free and you can pick it up on the plane or at the airport,” Fernandes told us. “It gives our customers much more time to browse and potentially we can create a marketplace for shops to put content on our website.”
According to Fernandes, the average passenger has an hour to an hour and a half to shop at the airport. With the online shops, AirAsia passengers can shop 365 days a year with personalised recommendations.
Further, Fernandes wants to use the airline’s fleet to transport goods purchased to destinations throughout Asia, thereby creating a logistics business.
“If you take Amazon, they started with a website and great distribution, now they are buying planes,” Fernandes said. “We’ve got the planes and we’re working backward.”
Of course, AirAsia’s e-commerce revolution won’t get off the ground without retrofitting its fleet with high-speed Wifi, a process that’s currently underway. It’s an element of the passenger experience Fernandes admits had been lacking onboard his flights.
The airline is focused on getting rid of cashThese days, cabin crew on board AirAsia flights wear several hats, among them salesperson. But due to the nature of AirAsia’s network that spans the entirety of Southeast Asia, cash poses a major problem. Which is why Fernandes is excited to jump into the financial technology (fintech) business.
“We’re so excited about the fintech revolution,” Fernandes said. “We hate cash. It’s a pain for our cabin crew. FX is a super pain. It leads to fraud. It tempts my crew to do things they shouldn’t do.”
As a result, AirAsia launched a new payment platform called BigPay that will allow the airline’s customers to buy products through their smartphones. According to Fernandes, the platform is built with group travel in mind. Which means it will allow people to share bills and transfer money to one another.
Initially, BigPay will also be available with a pre-paid card, but Fernandes and his team are working to make it more app-focused using QR codes and near-field-communications.
There will be a currency exchange feature as well.
“We think our customers are being ripped off by banks,” Fernandes said. “If you were travelling to Bali, [Indonesia] from Da Nang, Vietnam and wanted to exchange your Vietnamese Dong to Rupiah, we would facilitate that for you at a much lower rate.”
BigPay currently works with 10 currencies, but Fernandes expects to up that figure to 14.
Ultimately, the AirAsia boss believes BigPay will be able to expand beyond the airline ecosystem and into mainstream retail.
Where AirAsia and the airline industry are headedEven though AirAsia is thriving, the airline won’t be expanding beyond its bread and butter low-cost economy model. When asked if AirAsia is looking to offer a low-cost, long-haul business-class-only product like La Compagnie, Fernandes quickly shot down the idea.
“No, not while I’m at AirAsia,” he told us. “I think focus is key and we’re good at what we do and [long-haul business-class-only] is a different model.”
With that said, Fernandes understands the reasoning behind a dedicated business-class airline and is baffled by why airlines would offer so many different cabins on board a single aircraft.
“Airlines were crazy to have first class, business class, premium economy, and economy on one friggin plane,” Fernandes said. “That’s four business models on one plane.”
“You don’t have Four Seasons hotels with budget rooms and super suites, they basically have one standard, but with bigger rooms,” he added.
Instead, the AirAsia boss believes market segmentation in the future will see airlines specialize in one or two particular products.
“I’ve always said airlines will eventually become low-cost carriers and business class,” he proclaimed.
According to Fernandes, we will see the end of the first class cabin within the next five years. In addition, the economy cabin on full-service airlines could disappear altogether with dedicated low-cost carriers taking over that segment of the market. This means traditional, full-service airlines could be left operating flights with only business and premium-economy cabins.
The best advice Sir Richard Branson told him during the early days of AirAsia During the mid-1980s, Fernandes spent several years as the financial controller for Virgin Communications. Through the years, he’s become known for his close friendship with Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson.
But Fernandes makes it clear that he has no ambitions to become Asia’s Branson.
“Everyone thinks I want to be Richard, but I can confirm to Business Insider that I don’t,” he said. “I have no preconception of going on a balloon at 36,000 feet nor do I have any intention of going to the moon.”
While at Virgin Group during the early days of Virgin Atlantic Airways, Fernandes told Branson that his decision to go into the airline industry was crazy and advised him to sell Virgin Records. It’s something Branson remembered during the early days of AirAsia.
“One of the first people to call me up when I started AirAsia was Richard who said, ‘I thought it was really stupid to start an airline’,” Fernandes said jokingly.
As far as advice goes, it was pretty simple, yet profound.
“He just said have fun and make it a fun place which we’ve tried to do,” the AirAsia Group CEO added. “But we would have done that anyway.”
“Virgin was very informative in my whole cultural experience in that it was a fun place, it was a place where there were no suits, it was informal and ideas and innovation are encouraged,” Fernandes said.”That rubbed off on me.”
According to Fernandes, this open and innovative culture has defined the company’s success. For example, AirAsia encourages its employees to design their own uniform choices and to show off their personality as individuals.
“If they’re comfortable coming to work, they will be happier and more themselves,” he said.
| A BusinessInsider release || November 19, 2017 |||
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 |||
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 |||
Sick of those cramped, seemingly ancient economy airline cabins? Well, we’ve got good news. Today Qantas announced a whole lotta’ cabin upgrade plans for its fleet of 12 Airbus A380s.
Why?
To improve passenger comfort obviously – especially on those 26-hour flights to Europe every single young Aussie takes each winter.
The announcement was made alongside a Melbourne Domestic Lounge and an evaluation of new ultra-long range Qantas International aircraft in Qantas’ full-year results this morning.
The results also showed that Qantas’ performance was down over eight per cent from last year – but that didn’t stop them from making a tidy underlying profit of over $1 billion before tax.
The multi-million dollar A380 upgrade will make all your wildest airline dreams come true: upping the premium economy seat count as well as removing some regular ol’ economy seats to put more of the aircraft space to more effective use.
This change-up in the seats on the super jumbos is set to meet increased customer demand for premium cabins. This is specifically on flights to the US, Europe and Asia – because more and more Aussies want more leg room and comfier seats if they have to be on a plane for more than five hours.
On the upper deck, a crew workstation and some partitions will be rearranged – making room for six more business class seats and increasing premium economy seating by 27 per cent (25 seats).
Take a look at the full list of the A380 refurbishment program, straight from Qantas itself:
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the upgrade was a major investment, but that customers loved the A380.
“We’re seeing increased demand for Premium Economy and Business Class on the long haul routes that the A380 operates, including from people using their Qantas points to upgrade. When more travellers experience these new seats, we expect that demand will keep rising,” he said.
“Working with Airbus we’ve been able to achieve a very efficient layout on the upper deck. Using this space to increase the proportion of premium seating improves the revenue potential and the overall economics of the aircraft,” he added of the new upgrades.
Qantas is also continuing its efforts to try and eventually offer super-fast Wi-Fi on it’s international routes – and intends to be the first Aussie airline to do so.
The A380s will also be flying more regular routes to Asia – with some elements of the upgrade due to be rolled out later this year.
| A TravelWeekly release || August 25, 2017 |||
Fiji Airways has launched Bula Bid, an auction tool that allows Economy Class customers to bid for upgrades to Business Class on international flights. Passengers can bid for an upgrade between seven days and 24 hours before their scheduled flight departure.
Bids can be made at www.bulabid.com using the Upgrade Now auction system. Successful bidders are notified through a confirmation email 24 hours before their scheduled flight and unsuccessful bidders will not be charged. The quantity of successful bids is dependent on a number of factors, including seat availability and the number of offers for each flight.
Andre Viljoen, Fiji Airways Managing Director and CEO, said: “This new product is designed to give our Economy Class guests the chance to enjoy our renowned Business Class experience. Interest among guests for Bula Bid has been extremely high during the soft-launch period, and we are delighted to roll it out formally now across our international networks.”
Successful bidders will experience Fiji Airways’ Business Class product as well as the Business Class airport experience.
As FTE reported last year, upgrade auction tools are becoming an increasingly popular way for airlines to monetise unsold premium seats.
| An FTE release || August 17, 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