Auckland International Airport sees sector gain

Auckland International Airport (AIA), which counts Air New Zealand as its biggest customer, says low-fare airlines, such as Jetstar, now give the best prospects of growth through its gates.

Jetstar will make up just under half of new capacity growth at the airport in the next seven months, with plans to add seats at four times the pace of Air NZ, according to the AIA's Australian roadshow this week. The low-fare Qantas unit will add 406,000 seats on Auckland international routes and 573,000, or 72 per cent of total new capacity at AIA's 25 per cent-owned North Queensland Airports.

"Probably the difference between them [Air NZ] and Jetstar is simply the level of ambition in terms of volume growth," chief executive Simon Moutter said.

"If you look at our strategy – volume growth by stimulating aggressive competition between airlines drives terrific offers for travellers. Sometimes that's not good for incumbent airlines."

Auckland's total international capacity is set to grow by 850,000 passengers by the first half of 2011, while capacity at North Queensland's Cairns & Mackay airports is forecast to expand by 800,000.

To put that in context, Auckland Airport's total annual capacity is now about 16.7 million passengers, with 9.4m international and 7.3m domestic, based on monthly data.

- © Fairfax NZ News