AIR - Air NZ.

[Beagle]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/businessvi...lery_id=158971

AIR Asia X commenting on their arrival into Auckland this week. Completely different price bracket to what AIR can manage.

What concerns me with the crash they had, was it 2014 ?, was that questions were raised regarding the adequacy of their pilot flight training methodologies. That and tiny sardine can 16.5 inch width seats would put me off but what about others looking for cheap circa $300-$400 no frills flights to / from Asia ?

[Raz]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/businessvi...lery_id=158971

AIR Asia X commenting on their arrival into Auckland this week. Completely different price bracket to what AIR can manage.

What concerns me with the crash they had, was it 2014 ?, was that questions were raised regarding the adequacy of their pilot flight training methodologies. That and tiny sardine can 16.5 inch width seats would put me off but what about others looking for cheap circa $300-$400 no frills flights to / from Asia ?

I would not fly with them for this reason however a lot of people are very price sensitive. Jetstar would not exist if that wasn't the case.

A client commissioned market research report of disposable income focused on the detailed Auckland market came across my desk this week...made interesting reading, the levels of high disposable income for families (sufficient for the service my client provides) is very concentrated and is a small overall percentage in Auckland, no surprise there however it showed many demographics are being squeezed in Auckland on the disposable income front. Price will matter even more in time if currency drops further as intended by the powers that be, for overseas trips. Asia overall can make it price wise a good option for these people for a holiday...

Will Air Asia X help expand the market or cannibalise AIR current sales.

[Robomo]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/businessvi...lery_id=158971

AIR Asia X commenting on their arrival into Auckland this week. Completely different price bracket to what AIR can manage.

What concerns me with the crash they had, was it 2014 ?, was that questions were raised regarding the adequacy of their pilot flight training methodologies. That and tiny sardine can 16.5 inch width seats would put me off but what about others looking for cheap circa $300-$400 no frills flights to / from Asia ?

Some people will just grit their teeth, be prepared for a few hours of discomfort, close their eyes, get off and then start enjoying their holiday. They are the ones that fly Jetstar and AirAsia.
For others, like me, the journey is just as important as the holiday. I love the buzz of the airport, relaxing in the lounge, the anticipation of the travel, admiring the planes waiting to go to exotic destinations, fiddling with the entertainment unit, having a little luxury (Premium Economy is my choice), chatting with the cabin crew and other aviation buffs on the plane, soaking up the views and culture of the destination. Coming home, I love the easy familiarity of the Kiwi crew, the Kiwi accent, the silver fern (oops, sorry - still the Union Jack), the watchable safety video (bring back the bikini girls!) and admiring the big black 777-300. Yep, I remember the getting there and back just as much as what we did whilst away. Air NZ can count on my patronage, even if they do cost a bit more.

One day I'll meet Roger and we can see who can talk up ANZ more!

[h2so4]

I would not fly with them for this reason however a lot of people are very price sensitive. Jetstar would not exist if that wasn't the case.

A client commissioned market research report of disposable income focused on the detailed Auckland market came across my desk this week...made interesting reading, the levels of high disposable income for families (sufficient for the service my client provides) is very concentrated and is a small overall percentage in Auckland, no surprise there however it showed many demographics are being squeezed in Auckland on the disposable income front. Price will matter even more in time if currency drops further as intended by the powers that be, for overseas trips. Asia overall can make it price wise a good option for these people for a holiday...

Will Air Asia X help expand the market or cannibalise AIR current sales.

I wouldn't fly with Air Asia. My observation is that out of all the airlines that fly out of Gold Coast Air Asia has the lowest and slowest climb rate. Probably doesn't mean anything just an observation.

[winner69]

Some people will just grit their teeth, be prepared for a few hours of discomfort, close their eyes, get off and then start enjoying their holiday. They are the ones that fly Jetstar and AirAsia.
For others, like me, the journey is just as important as the holiday. I love the buzz of the airport, relaxing in the lounge, the anticipation of the travel, admiring the planes waiting to go to exotic destinations, fiddling with the entertainment unit, having a little luxury (Premium Economy is my choice), chatting with the cabin crew and other aviation buffs on the plane, soaking up the views and culture of the destination. Coming home, I love the easy familiarity of the Kiwi crew, the Kiwi accent, the silver fern (oops, sorry - still the Union Jack), the watchable safety video (bring back the bikini girls!) and admiring the big black 777-300. Yep, I remember the getting there and back just as much as what we did whilst away. Air NZ can count on my patronage, even if they do cost a bit more.

One day I'll meet Roger and we can see who can talk up ANZ more!

Jeez mate - that's one of the sweetest posts i have read

[Beagle]

Some people will just grit their teeth, be prepared for a few hours of discomfort, close their eyes, get off and then start enjoying their holiday. They are the ones that fly Jetstar and AirAsia.
For others, like me, the journey is just as important as the holiday. I love the buzz of the airport, relaxing in the lounge, the anticipation of the travel, admiring the planes waiting to go to exotic destinations, fiddling with the entertainment unit, having a little luxury (Premium Economy is my choice), chatting with the cabin crew and other aviation buffs on the plane, soaking up the views and culture of the destination. Coming home, I love the easy familiarity of the Kiwi crew, the Kiwi accent, the silver fern (oops, sorry - still the Union Jack), the watchable safety video (bring back the bikini girls!) and admiring the big black 777-300. Yep, I remember the getting there and back just as much as what we did whilst away. Air NZ can count on my patronage, even if they do cost a bit more.

One day I'll meet Roger and we can see who can talk up ANZ more!

100% agreed mate and amen to the highlighted part especially Nice post. I reckon the same principle applies with holiday resorts and hotel rooms, some people have to chose the cheapest and nastiest and thankfully I'm not one of them.

Interesting post RAZ. On the AIR Asia X thing as an experiment I went onto their website and priced a couple of random flights at their regular price. By the time you add luggage and a meal the price wasn't all that much different to flying our national airline when their airfares are on special. (Acknowledge I'm comparing apples and oranges). That said there's definitely a market for cheap flights and I expect that we'll see some modest loss of market share for AIR but mostly growth in the overall size of the market.

Happy Easter everyone... for your viewing pleasure... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0tkeGPG_8Q

[Beagle]

And wrapping up the week on things that chip and chew away at AIR's cash, (as if we needed it after the VAH and ACCC matters), I just noticed under general disclosures page 12 of the interim report that arrived this week, note 2(B) is pretty interesting. Yet another reason for the modest interim dividend.

[winner69]

And wrapping up the week on things that chip and chew away at AIR's cash, (as if we needed it after the VAH and ACCC matters), I just noticed under general disclosures page 12 of the interim report that arrived this week, note 2(B) is pretty interesting. Yet another reason for the modest interim dividend.

Nice to see staff getting rewarded before shareholders

They will be double nice to robomo up there on Premium Economy now

[Beagle]

Nice to see staff getting rewarded before shareholders

They will be double nice to robomo up there on Premium Economy now

I doubt the 106 staff earning more than $400,000 per annum need it and the top earners especially which would have been the main beneficiaries of the $21,000,000 share buy-back for their share incentive scheme.

Maybe they should incentivise the extremely hard working junior flight attendants instead that do the real hard donkey work for about a tenth of that at circa $40K per annum ? They're probably struggling to put food on the table for their families at that rate.

Even more controversial later this year will be fat bonus's paid to senior staff because of the record profit...much of which is simply because of cheap fuel. Better be a record dividend too otherwise some very pithy comments might be forthcoming at the next annual meeting.

Its been an "interesting" week. 13 cps of shareholders money down the Virgin rat hole when almost every other airline in the world is making record profits and nearly 2 cps of shareholders money buying up shares to honour lucrative and extremely generous senior staff share incentive schemes to staff that are mostly earning over $1m per annum. That's 15 cps of shareholders money in one week of interesting disclosures plus the other somewhat questionable investments in green initiatives. No wonder shareholders got a comparatively miserable 10 cps dividend despite 30 cps earnings for the last half !

Oh yes how could I forget, we had salt rubbed into the wound with the ACCC freight decision this week too so that's Australians taking more of our money...hope next week doesn't bring more bad news.

[Snow Leopard]

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned"

is from Act III, Scene VIII of The Mourning Bride written in 1697 by William Congreve.

This quote is sometimes mistakenly attributed to that other Bill, William Shakespeare.

Best Wishes
Paper Tiger