I retired from personal blogging in July 2008 but you can find me over at blog.xero.com
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Back from a quick break in Vanuatu. Since we can’t go to Fiji (as they kicked out our High Commissioner), Vanuatu was the next choice. 3 hours flying time from Auckland - a key criteria with kids under 4.
It sucks that there are few options out of Wellington. Flying through Auckland means a hotel overnight by the Airport to catch the 7am flight and 3 hours travel on the way back becomes 7+ hours. When you go on an overseas holiday with young kids you don’t visualize lying by the pool, you’re only thinking kid-fly-time. Public speaking in front of a couple of hundred people - no sweat. Flying with kids - stress for weeks before. Hopefully WIAL can work out some deals for a once a week flight to a few destinations. We’d certainly travel more if we could go direct out of Wellington. There are enough sun starved windsurfers that a couple of direct to Maui flights during winter would be booked out years in advance (I’m fantasizing now of course).
Vanuatu was good. I liked it better than Fiji. We stayed at Le Lagon which I wouldn’t rave about but was OK. We were in a non-refurbished room which was tired. Pools were good and we couldn’t keep the 3 year old out of them.
Port Vila is located in a great setting but still feels fairly third world. Taxi’s don’t have seat belts and the driving is fairly loose so you are a bit nervy with the kids. There is a French connection and the Au Péché Mignon bakery provides a welcome respite from resort buffet serving probably the best pain au chocolat in the southern hemisphere. They have real coffee so you can ease your mojo withdrawal symptoms.
The currency is something like 75:1. You can’t get vatu until you get there, so when you use the ATM for the first time at Vanuatu airport you’re not sure if you’re getting out enough money for a pineapple juice or Toyota Corolla.
There is no mobile data network - GSM only. The hotels have internet access in the lobby (at hotel rates) which was enough for a couple of checks. So no BlackBerry (which my wife loved of course). On the plus side, with no mobile data, my phone battery lasted all week (maybe only I found that interesting).
So Vanuatu is a good substitute for that mid winter Fiji power break. Good temperature, relaxed and fairly easy to get to.
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A week without blackberry Rod - my god I’d hate to have been your mailserver upon your return!
heh - reminds me of the first time I went to India - arrived in Chennai at 4am tired and as a result bit out of space&time - changed a travelers check ($100US I think) and was handed a pile of bills more than an inch thick with a honking big staple thru one end - like a pad of paper you were supposed to rip sheets off - none were small enough to tip the taxi with - they really made out on us that night
mind you I did the same in Vietnam and became an instant millionaire
The flying with kids thing is a major issue for many of us. I can’t remember the last time i flew Air New Zealand internationally. It’s Emirates or Singapore for us Christchurch bound people. It’s even worse that from Christchurch you cannot fly direct to Hawaii or the US. People are begging to get out of here in the Winter. There’s no way i’m flying to Fiji if i have to go via Auckland!
The success of Emirates, Singapore and airlines like Virgin are because they focus on the customer….and listen to feedback.
I see Air New Zealand are going to put in seat entertainment on Trans Tasman flights next year…whoppee.
I don’t envy you trying to get away on holiday from Wellington.
One of the downsides of privitizing infrastructure such as airports is that it stops central government dipping deep into their pockets to extend infrastructure when it is needed. Wellington will always be limited in offering long distance flights due to -
(a) the length of the runway
(b) small population does not make it consistantly worthwhile
(c) aircraft are hugely expensive and all airlines have to allocate them these days where they get the maximum economic return
This is just the way it is. Of course its not helped by both Air NZ and Qantas feeling that WIAL is over charging for what is a small regional airport in world terms. The same applies to Auckland airport.
Neither b or c will ever be fixed without a being fixed.
I don’t see (other than I gues the cost) why they don’t extend the runway. If you can create a ground swell to achiebe a then sometime it may fall into place.
Dermott said…
One of the downsides of privatizing infrastructure such as airports is that it stops central government dipping deep into their pockets to extend infrastructure when it is needed.
That is why Mayor Bob Harvey’s proposal for a second international airport in Auckland is a good idea (market competition). I assume that you live over the shore, Dermott, where some residents from across the Harbor Bridge are against Bob Harvey’s proposal.
Falafulu, yes I do live and work on the North Shore. Market competition is good, to a point (double glazed replacement window companies in the UK an example where it gets out of control). One of the issues that we have to come to grips with in NZ is we cannot have everything. London has 5 airports but an immediate pop of nearly 8 million and a metropolitian pop of 14 million. Its the most important economic city in Europe.
Auckland has a pop of 1.3 to 1.4 and one airport. A second airport would be possible and it could be shared with the Air Force (commercial on one side, military on the other), the runways are long enough for 767’s (6665 & 5187 ft) and could probably be lengthened. But with security etc you need a big infrastructure and I am not convinced Auckland needs another airport.
If it was feasible I would not have a problem with it happening.
Wellington has a runway 6352 ft long. Thats 112 ft longer than Palmerston North, much less than Hamilton (7202 ft). Queenstown is 6204 ft, Dunedin 6234 ft.
The only decent length runways than can take 777, 787 or 747 are Auckland with 11926 ft and 10197 ft and Christchurch with 10785 ft and a second runway of 5712 ft.
You will never see permanent commercial flights long haul out of Wellington.
The ones Air NZ are getting weigh 245 tonnes, the takeoff distance for the 787-8 a smaller aircraft than Air NZ’s 787-9 is 9255 ft. In 2006 Wellington airport and the Wellington Chamber of Commerce did a presentation to say they could flight to Asia from Wellington. They must no more than Boeing.
That’s interesting Dermott. Thanks.
I must admit I had a wee chuckle to myself when our city fathers burst into print regarding the possibility of direct flights to Asia ex WLG. Official performance data on the 787-9 is actually scarce because the aircraft has not yet been flight tested. However I can tell you that operations out of WLG for the 767-300 for example are very tight, at about 180 tonnes maximum takeoff weight (MTOW). This would suggest that a 787 with a MTOW of 245t would need to be payload limited, even accounting for the larger engine power. Limiting payload would seriously degrade the economics of a long haul operation out of WLG.
Air Pacific, Polynesian, Freedom and Pacific Blue have all struggled even with short haul regional ops out of WLG using much smaller aircraft and some have fallen by the wayside. Furthermore, Air NZ are committed to AKL as the primary hub for long haul because this is the centre of gravity for the whole network. Hub and spoke is still the prevailing industry model. The new 787s are far more likely to be deployed on pioneering new routes out of Auckland such as to Canada, China or India for example.
So even if the WLG runway were longer that doesn’t alter the demand side of the equation.
Did I ever tell you I lived there for 8 years growing up?
Brilliant memories living there as a kid. Swimming in beautiful waters, spending my days treking through jungle and climbing trees, never having to wear a seatbelt - I also think this is where my pain au chocolat addiction has come from.
Third world, maybe, but I’d rather that than the artificial resort life of Fiji.
“But with security etc you need a big infrastructure”
I’ve been to Whenuapai to drop a friend off who was flying on military work. They have no more security than any rural airport - you get waved through the gate without stopping.
I suspect the Air Force could share most of the commercial facilities with an airport. (Come to think of it, if Aussie troops can fly on Air NZ, why doesn’t the NZDF sell their little used 757s and send their people on charter or scheduled flights?)
Air NZ has said for a while that all its long-haul B789s will fly out of AKL. Being a small player by world standards, who can blame them? If I recall correctly, WIAL has been in discussions with SQ, CX and EK about the possibility of their B788/9s coming to WLG. So far SQ has said ‘maybe’, no word yet from CX or EK.
WLG was engineered when NAC Viscounts were the biggest means of passenger flight in NZ. Whereas AKL was designed from a clean sheet to handle fully-laden B707s & DC-8s. PPQ had the land space for a long-haul runway, but it was a 40-minute drive from the Welly CBD and there were too many topographical obstructions for international flights, so the airport was relocated to Rongotai. Any runway extensions beyond the safety runoffs (which will double as 90m starter strips) would require civil works of Think Big proportions, particularly a breakwater strip to withstand Cook Strait and a Force 10 cyclone combined. Other locations around WLG were scouted, but most of them were either too far away from the CBD, too residentially over-developed, or too topographically obstructed.
If it’s anything to go by, KIX in Osaka has cost more than US$20bn - way over budget - and counting. It has among the highest landing fees of any world airport, rivalled only by NRT.
The Pacific routes mentioned above would have been mostly low-value routes with not much business-class passengers. Europe, the Americas, and possibly some parts of Asia will be where the air dollars are.
Was in Vanuatu earlier this year and agree with you Rod. We stayed at a great place (with very nice new apartments or more traditional fares) called Iririki, which is a tiny little Island in the main harbour (about a 2 minute shuttle boat ride from town). Highly recommend it - see http://www.iririki.com/resort.asp