Mike Williams: Air New Zealand Chief Transformation and Alliances Officer on the airline's new deal with Air Chathams

Air New Zealand's teamed up with Air Chathams on a new partnership for Whakatane.

It'll mean customers can book single-ticket trips that combine domestic flights on both airlines.

Checked-in baggage will be transferred directly to the final destination.

Air New Zealand's Chief Transformation and Alliances Officer, Mike Williams, explained what the partnership could mean for both airlines.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now in New Zealand is finally dealing with one of
those annoying things that's been bugging people who fly regionally.
People can now book a single ticket for journeys that
combine a domestic flight with a regional flight operated by
Air Chathams. It means one booking, so the luggage is
checked all the way through to your final destination, even
when you swap carriers. Mike Williams is Air New Zealand's
Chief Transformation and Alliances Officer and with us hime Mike, Hi,

(00:23):
how are you well? Thank you? So is this just
the Fukatani destination.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, today's step one, but I hope there's a step
two and maybe a step three beyond that. So it
is as a start. It's we can think of it
as a trial really making sure that we have things
set up and it works smoothly, because it's been a
long time since we've been able to put one of
these what we call interline arrangements together. But absolutely I
hope to see more of New Zealand connected in the future.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
And are you able to do it if you're flying internationally,
so for example, I don't know, let's say you're flying
from somewhere in Australia into New Zealand and you're going
to go through to Fakatani. Can you do it like that?

Speaker 2 (01:01):
At the moment, we're just looking at the domestic scope.
But again I think it's a case for us of
working super closely with their chathams and the regions and
then let's see what the future looks like.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
What's so hard about it?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
It just takes time. I mean some of these things
are operationally complex, and it's really thinking about what happens
in the case of a disrupt and do the digital
systems talk well to each other and have we trained
all of our staff and things like that. So I
wouldn't say it's difficult, but it's just one that we
want to get right so that customers have a great experience.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
So is it more about the computers than it is
about actually picking up the right bag and chucking it
in the right place.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Well, it's all of the above, really, But you know,
the system is complicated and complex in some cases, so
it pays to take a bit of time to make
sure that things are done in a really seamless way.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Why is it, Mike that I mean? Correct me if
I'm wrong. But this is quite normal overseas, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
It is normal, especially with international airlines, and I don't
know what the exact number is. I think it's up
to fifty interline partnerships that we've got around the world.
But it's much more normal when there's larger air lines
connecting with other larger alines. It's actually not that common
to have these sorts of relationships domestically. But you know,
today is a great day for air Chathams who have

(02:15):
been serving amazingly well for many years. It's a great
day for it's a great day for regions like this.
And to your earlier question, I think the excitement is
that we really look at this as step one of
a few steps.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
So why is it that it's it's more common with
the big, big carriers than it is with the little ones.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, it's just the nature really of where customers want
to travel to. And generally speaking, domestic networks are more
call it point to points, so you fly from A
to B and that gets you where you need to
get to. There's less traffic that flows through hubs, and
that's much more common internationally when you're connecting between you know,
Auckland through Singapore to get to somewhere else, for example.

(02:56):
But there's no reason why it shouldn't work. And ultimately
this is about connecting regions between I Chatham's network with
regions from in New Zealand's network as well.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, Mike, thanks very much, really appreciate it. Mike Williams,
Chief Transformation and Alliances Offer Officerity in New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
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