Air NZ bets on Sydney’s new airport - Fri 23 Oct

So if the airport isn't open, how are you getting there on Monday? Oh my God.

I'm flying into Sydney Kingsford, but I'll be there to meet our first flight.

We're actually the first international airline to land at the new Western Sydney International.

So it's a really exciting moment for us.

So you're literally the first one through the gate.

That's amazing.

That's really cool.

How common is that for Air New Zealand to fly to two destinations in the same city?

It's unique in our network, but Sydney is a huge destination for us.

You know, last July, or this July just gone, 135,000 Australians came.

We just saw, we chinned the pre-COVID levels.

So the growth out of that market is enormous, fantastic to see.

And Sydney, we're already flying four to five times a day just from Auckland alone.

So it's great to have this other option in the city.

And this is literally what, just about trying to provide extra capacity? Or are you going to see a shift from one to the other over time?

It's about growing our capacity.

One of the things I learned through this is the catchment of Western Sydney alone, more than two and a half million people, it's twice the population of the entire South Island.

So we have growth there.

There's a ton of Kiwis, a ton of expats living in that area.

So it's a great route for us to start to grow that demand.

So that's one of your three, I think, that you've identified as strategic objectives for the airline, right? I think you ticked off the kind of better on-time performance recently.

Yeah.

One of them is getting more Kiwi connection, more family connection flowing, right, as well as bringing in the internationals.

Is this going to be more about bringing New Zealanders back than bringing...

Australians in for ski season or whatever?

So if the airport isn't open, how are you getting there on Monday? Oh my God.

I'm flying into Sydney Kingsford, but I'll be there to meet our first flight.

We're actually the first international airline to land at the new Western Sydney International.

So it's a really exciting moment for us.

So you're literally the first one through the gate.

That's amazing.

That's really cool.

How common is that for Air New Zealand to fly to two destinations in the same city?

It's unique in our network, but Sydney is a huge destination for us.

You know, last July, or this July just gone, 135,000 Australians came.

We just saw, we chinned the pre-COVID levels.

So the growth out of that market is enormous, fantastic to see.

And Sydney, we're already flying four to five times a day just from Auckland alone.

So it's great to have this other option in the city.

And this is literally what, just about trying to provide extra capacity? Or are you going to see a shift from one to the other over time?

It's about growing our capacity.

One of the things I learned through this is the catchment of Western Sydney alone, more than two and a half million people, it's twice the population of the entire South Island.

So we have growth there.

There's a ton of Kiwis, a ton of expats living in that area.

So it's a great route for us to start to grow that demand.

So that's one of your three, I think, that you've identified as strategic objectives for the airline, right? I think you ticked off the kind of better on-time performance recently.

Yeah.

One of them is getting more Kiwi connection, more family connection flowing, right, as well as bringing in the internationals.

Is this going to be more about bringing New Zealanders back than bringing...

Australians in for ski season or whatever?