NZRO trans tas from June 09??
 

This from a Tourism Newletter.

22/10/08

Direct flights between Rotorua and Australia could start next June.
Rotorua District Council has unanimously decided to let the $8.4 million airport extension contract to Fulton Hogan, and the project could see Rotorua Airport ready for international flights from Australia as early as June 2009.

Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing (DRTM) general manager Don Gunn says regular direct air services from Australia will open up lucrative markets for Rotorua.

“We’ll now be able to sell Rotorua’s vast range of accommodation and attractions and join forces with neighbouring regions to expand the visitor experience, using Rotorua as the hub,” he says.

Once direct flight services are in place, Australians will be able to visit Rotorua for short stays. Rotorua’s profile in Australia will treble, giving DRTM the potential to attract new visitors to the region.

Rotorua’s restaurants and cafés are also sure to benefit from the increased number of visitors.

Rotorua will also be seen as a top region for new businesses, new investment and new employment opportunities.

Sounds like $8.4 M wasted- another example of a local council with money to swander... HLZ a good example.:confused:

why is this 8.4 mil wasted?? If they can open rotovegas up for international flights it would be good for the town dont you think? besides they spent enough money on upgrading the airport by now so they might as wel.
Or did i mis understood your post?
cheers:ok:

Field of Dreams
 

It's amazing how many airport companies work on the "Field of Dreams" principle...
"Build it and they will come..."
Unfortunately that only works in the movies...and in fact in Hamilton it has turned into...
"Build it and they buggr off!!"

I guess that means the small vocal group opposed to the extension due to the rare virgin oozing swamp/conservation area at the end of the rwy have given up!!??

Must be all too busy with the green party campaign:ok:

Rotorua would be a bad bad bad idea ... Given its actual location it would not suit any tour operators as tours tend to start North then go south or vv. Same with DIY holidayers then fly in to AKL and go South and fly out of CHC or ZQN ... With Rotorua sort of being in the middle it would mean alot of backtracking! and I dont see many people flying to NZ just to spend a w/end in Rotorua.

hmmm......

I hope the council has sought advice from a couple of the airlines before they spend the money.

Airlines pay a lot of attention to how many travel to where (with some very good software to capture the data) and it is interesting to note that no airline has publicly pushed for adequate trans tasman facilities at Vegas before now. With its comprehensive domestic network, no one would know better than AirNZ what the likely Tasman market would be out of Vegas.

Perhaps while the Hamilton destination only appealed locals outbound (and the traditional home of SJ), the Vegas option atleast has a bit more going for it with the inbound market.

My last impression of the tourist market in Vegas was the vast number of Asians in tour busses. And a trans Tasman connection is of little value to them.

Don't worry about the 8.4 mil. They'll increase the departure tax to take care of that.

Who is kidding who here? Are the councillors being blinded by bull**** or do they truely believe that they are going to get the inbound numbers to make an "investment" of 8.4 big ones worthwhile.

Someone should be taking them to task and asking how they justify such expenditure. I bet the numbers won't stand up to proper scrutiny. Once again we have people with inflated opinions of their own importance building a monument to themselves, with other peoples money.

How many airlines are there who would want to cross the Tasman to NZRO. Have they done any real research?

My bet is a very substantial sweetener will need to be offered to get any trans Tasman operation up and going, any forecast return from the planned expenditure will be more than lost here.

The money would be better spent getting tourists who are flying into Auckland to travel to the Rotorua area and to get them to spend more time there. Having said that, getting people to spend more time in a smelly hole that RO is will be a challenge.

I may be recapping, but for tourists (the ones the put cash in our ecomomy) Rotorua is much better than Hamilton. Lets face it, people arriving in Hamilton, the first thing they did was try to book a bus to Rotorua.

Rotorua is the Queenstown of the North. :D

Errr NO. The feedback I got from tourists was that Rotorua was a smelly over rated tacky tourist city. They much preferred Taupo to Rotorua, especially the Aussies. Going accross the Tasman direct into Taupo would make more sense and even that is a stupid idea.

I can just imagine the A320 Captain calling "holding at Ohura, inbound Taupo due skydiving"

You do have quite an imagination don't you mattyj ... :D

I think he just has more time on his hands now.....:bored:

almost like being a corporate pilot:}

more like 'EUD hold to the north 16 thousand. expect further delay two zero minutes for Airbus and mulitple training IFR aircraft '

no reply from EUD as he's running low on O2 and saving his breath.....

Rotorua is the gateway to Kawerau. Everyone wants to go there.

Mt Ruapehu should also get right behind this, using it as a closer gateway to their outstanding regular snow conditions... ski shuttles competing with the fly-in/fly-out ski holidays from Oz to Queenstown and Christchurch.
Good luck to them (and Taupo).

whats the bet they will get it up and running and she will blow her top again,
put everyone off for good,

I agree that Rotorua is over-rated as a tourist destination, but the fact remains that Air NZ and Qantas see fit to operate 737s there, yet give Hamilton a wide birth. Sure, a lot of it is the Asian market, but in some respects there's more demand for seats into ROT than HLZ. This could mean it does better as an international port than HLZ, but that may still not be enough to make it profitable.

If they can make it work, good on them - I'm sure they will do the market research before parting with that sort of dosh. People seem extremely quick to jump to negative conclusions.

CC,

Air New Zealand used to only operate the B733 domestic CHC - ROT - CHC as an extension of the ZQN service during the summer months and have now pulled out of even that.

QF also operate the flight as an extension of the ZQN service but have a contract with an international package tour operator which is why they are still there, though they may not even operate it for much longer.