OUR SUBMISSION TO THE WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL’S ANNUAL PLAN

We have submitted the following to the WCC’s Annual Plan – as they were asking for ‘good ideas’ from the community of how to spend our money better. It may be largely lip-service, seeing the Council has gotten a lot of flak recently over their public ‘consultation’ (or lack thereof) processes, but we felt itContinue reading "OUR SUBMISSION TO THE WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL’S ANNUAL PLAN"

RE-BLOG Strathmore Park: Wellington Airport extension supporters suffering Polyannaism

For years now, Wellington International Airport and it’s pet monkey the Wellington City Council have been pushing for an airport extension. And for years now, it hasn’t stacked up. No small wonder when the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) and the Board of Airlines Representatives of New Zealand (BARNZ) slammed the business caseContinue reading "RE-BLOG Strathmore Park: Wellington Airport extension supporters suffering Polyannaism"

NEWS NZ Herald: NZIER savages Wellington runway extension plan

Analysis backing the proposed Wellington airport runway extension "grossly overstates" the benefits, understates the costs and is based on passenger projections that may be five times too high, according to two reports by the independent economic consultancy, the New Zealand Institute for Economic Research, commissioned by the body representing airlines flying in New Zealand. TheContinue reading "NEWS NZ Herald: NZIER savages Wellington runway extension plan"

REBLOG Strathmore Park Blog: Singapore Airlines just saved Wellington $90m

News this week that Singapore Airlines will be flying “direct” from Wellington to Singapore via Canberra single-handedly proving that we don’t need a $300m plus runway extension to access Asia and saving the ratepayers the $90m that was looking earmarked for the project. Rejoice Wellington. In a Powerpoint Presentation written by what appears to beContinue reading "REBLOG Strathmore Park Blog: Singapore Airlines just saved Wellington $90m"

Singapore here we come! As long as it is subsidised…

Yesterday, the Capital’s worst-kept secret has been confirmed: Singapore Airlines is starting a 4-day a week service from Wellington to Singapore via Canberra. But there are some pretty serious questions yet to be answered about how this miracle came about. The new 'capital express' service will begin in September, with seats going on sale onContinue reading "Singapore here we come! As long as it is subsidised…"

REBLOG Keith Johnson: The business case for (or should that be against?) the Wellington runway extension

DOWN TO EARTH WITH A BUMP Everyone is slowly getting back to normality after the Christmas Holidays here in the Antipodes. The holidays are taken very seriously [or should I say ‘unseriously’], resulting both in substantial brain-fade during their duration and the build up of a toxic aversion to a return work among most citizens.Continue reading "REBLOG Keith Johnson: The business case for (or should that be against?) the Wellington runway extension"

REBLOG Croaking Cassandra: Further thoughts on the Wellington Airport Part 2

In my first post today, I posed some questions around the plausibility of the assumed increase in international travel into and out of New Zealand if the proposed Wellington airport runway extension was to proceed. In this post, I want to focus mainly on how the consultants have calculated the net national benefits from theContinue reading "REBLOG Croaking Cassandra: Further thoughts on the Wellington Airport Part 2"

REBLOG Croaking Cassandra: Further thoughts on the airport Part 1

Shortly after the release of the cost-benefit analysis of the proposed Wellington airport runway extension, prepared by Sapere for Wellington International Airport Limited (WIAL) I wrote a post in which I posed the question “If they build it, what if no one comes?” Since that post, I’ve been to one of the open day/public consultationContinue reading "REBLOG Croaking Cassandra: Further thoughts on the airport Part 1"

A truly independent review of the Airport’s Cost Benefit Analysis

Ian Harrison, a highly respected  Principal economist from Tailrisk Economics, has released a truly independent (i.e. not paid for or commissioned by any Party involved in the runway extension) review of the Cost-Benefit Analysis. It really is worth a read. To quote from his Executive Summary: Recently, the Wellington International Airport Company released a costContinue reading "A truly independent review of the Airport’s Cost Benefit Analysis"

OPINION Dom Post: Wellington Airport’s runway extension plan struggles to pass the sniff test

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 toContinue reading "OPINION Dom Post: Wellington Airport’s runway extension plan struggles to pass the sniff test"