Originally Posted by
zanzibar
The Australian government, in its wisdom, offered a subsidy to operate SYD-NLK and they have been paying that subsidy to Air New Zealand since. Had they paid that subsidy to the NIA then the Norfolk Air service may well have continued without the loss of dozens of local jobs that it provided.
I don't believe Air New Zealand received any money from the Australian government for the SYD-NLK operation. Sure there was always the option of calling on the Australian government for a top up but this option was never exercised from what I've heard.