Chami Abeysinghe: Great South CEO on the removal of the direct flight between Wellington and Invercargill

Air New Zealand's direct flight between Wellington and Invercargill will soon be no more. 

It's being scrapped, with its last service in mid-January.  

Great South chief executive Chami Abeysinghe says customers are still able to fly to Wellington via Christchurch, and the airline's adding more flights between Christchurch and Invercargill. 

She told Ryan Bridge there's multiple factors for the decision including softening domestic demand and engine issues. 

Abeysinghe says one of the key factors is ensuring accessible flights between the main centres. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You might have seen this in New Zealand's pulling out
of in the Cargo Wellington route. This is happening in January.
They say that the decision came down to engine issues
and softening of demand. Domestically, customers can still go to
in Vicargo from Wellington, but you've got to go via
christ Church. Chemmy abasing it here is with us this

(00:20):
morning from the Great South, which is the tourism agency
down there. Thank you for being with me. Is this
a big loss the Wellington route?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Definitely is. We're very disappointed. We've worked really hard as
a region to establish where we are at this point
in time. Economic development's been really good, the growth has
been really good. Tourism is almost back to pre COVID
levels and one of the key factors behind this is

(00:52):
our accessibility. And you know, the direct flights from the
main centers from Auckland and in Auckland, Wellington and christ Church.
So losing a direct route between in the Caago and
Wellington is extremely disappointing for us.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Do you know how many tourists or how much it
might cost your region?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
No, we haven't really done that sort of modeling, but
you know, like I mean as a New Zealand said,
you can still come to us via christ Church, and
they're proposing that they will have additional flights put on
for us to and from christ Church, so that you
know there is still those opportunities. I don't know. We

(01:36):
haven't been informed of what those routes and those additional
flights are like yet.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Is the Auckland route in any doubt? Have you asked
in New Zealand about that?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Absolutely, they have guaranteed that it isn't the whole reason
they've gone to this particular flight. I think one of
the reasons is also about our experts going from in
the cargo. We've got the jet service via Auckland, and
of course we've got opportunities to connect to the international

(02:09):
world via christ Church. So those two routes are secure.
The loadings they say to Wellington is also they're also full.
I mean, the flights are fall Anybody who's been on
that flight will know that there's hardly a fair seed.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
But that's good that they've guaranteed it. Yeah, Jimmy, thank
you very much for your time this wanting really appreciate it. Jemmy,
I was singing joining us from Great South she's the
chief executive of the Economic Development Agency down there. It
is It is annoying, isn't it. When you go to
book a flight and they say, oh, you're going to
go via christ Church. It just changes the game. You're

(02:43):
not going to go down for the day, which is
kind of what I was looking at doing and a
while ago for work. It just becomes a whole multi
day thing, doesn't it. So it is a bit of
a game changer, though thankfully the Auckland one seems to
be guaranteed for more from news talks, there'd be listen
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