PATTRICK SMELLIE Last updated 12:50, December 3 2015 ANDREW GORRIE/FAIRFAX NZ   While there may be 679 long-haul passengers leaving and arriving in Wellington every day already – enough to fill nearly three planes – how many are heading to the same long-haul destinations? OPINION: Running an airline is still one of the hardest ways to make a profit. IATA, the international aviation body, predicts total profits for the global industry of US$29.3 billion in 2015. Sure, that sounds like a big number, but it represents a return on capital of just 4 per cent – only slightly better than the feeble returns offered by bank deposits. Averaged across every airline, the average profit sums out at a measly US$8.27 per passenger, according to IATA director general Tony Tyler. That’s the trouble with impressive-sounding numbers. They can seem less impressive once you break them down. A good local example: the $2b benefit New Zealand might expect from extending the Wellington airport runway. That’s a $2 billion benefit over 40 years, or an average annual benefit of $50 million. That’s not to be sneezed at, but it’s a more meaningful figure against which to place the many risks of a $300 million Read More …

By Bernard Hickey As a Wellingtonian, I would love a runway that permits direct flights to Asia and the US. It would save me schlepping up to Auckland and walking the gauntlet through the carparks to the international terminal. It could encourage more direct international tourism and boost demand for foreign education. And what I’d love more than a fancier airport is the sort of house price inflation that Auckland gets from all those tourists, students and foreign buyers of houses. I’m frustrated at living in a “dying city” – as the PM famously called it – where house prices have risen 3 per cent in six years while Auckland’s rose 83 per cent. Even John Key acknowledged in August others would like to see Auckland-style foreign visitor and investor joy in their cities. So it’s no wonder Wellingtonians would like to juice up economic growth with Government help. This week, Wellington Airport detailed its case for a 354m runway extension. It would cost around $300 million and generate about $2 billion net benefits. In theory, it would allow long-haul 787 and A350 planes to fly direct from Asia and North America, although there is vagueness about whether planes could Read More …

Hallelujah! After growing opposition from surfers, Moa Point greenies and airline pilots, the airport runway extension is taking off thanks to the latest report commissioned by, wait for it, the airport. Did you know that for every dollar we invest in the runway extension we could get up to possibly maybe perhaps seven back? It’s a no-brainer! That’s what the expensive full-page newspaper advertisement asking for feedback, led by a Clark Kent lookalike who could be any of the many designers and coders who do PR for the airport, implies. With a Phoenix player, a craft beer hipster and a film wanker in their ranks, these trendy superheroes could fly us into the next century, via the runway extension, supported only by a hefty ratepayer handout to pay for the million cubic tonnes of dirt. That’s because the government, private investors and Air New Zealand don’t want a cubic millimetre of it. Apparently there’s not much profit in the extended runway for the airport company – it only wants it for our own good. When news broke of the latest report, apart from being amazed by the number of times the words ‘could’ and ‘may’ were used, I was impressed Read More …