Speech to the Airports Association of New Zealand

Good evening and welcome here to Parliament tonight.

I'd like to say a few quick words about the importance of airports to New Zealand, and touch on a few issues facing your sector.

The Government has made it clear our top priority for transport is to maximise its contribution to economic growth and productivity.

Airports have a major role to play in this. For a small and remote nation like New Zealand, moving people and goods to markets is crucial.

We rely on tourism and trade to make a living in the world, and air travel plays a huge part in that.

About 98% of foreign tourists enter New Zealand through our international airports and around 15% of our exports and 20% of our imports by value cross our borders at an international airport.

Put simply - we need airports.

We have 31 airports in New Zealand, including six international, connecting people and families as a major part of society.

As we all know it's been a tough few years for aviation around the world.

The recession has had a major impact with a decline in the number of domestic and international passengers, meaning we really need to work hard to promote New Zealand.

The Prime Minister John Key is also the Minister of Tourism, and as part of the Budget this year he announced $30 million in new funding for tourism.

$25 million of this will go into overseas marketing to encourage more visitors here, with Australia is one of the main targets.

Already though there are encouraging signs the economy is getting back on its feet, and healthy growth is forecast for the next few years. This is good news for New Zealand, and good news for airports.

Of course next year is the Rugby World Cup, which will be the biggest event ever hosted in this country. We are expecting around 85,000 internationals visitors, and moving them around the country represents a great challenge and opportunity.

It's also encouraging to see new developments like Air Asia wanting to fly into New Zealand.

Another new development is Smartgate. I was at Wellington airport a couple of weeks ago for the launch of this. It's a great initiative which makes travel a lot quicker, more efficient and enjoyable for passengers.

Recently the Transport Minister Steven Joyce announced a reduction in the international aviation security charge paid by out-bound airlines will be reduced by $5 per passenger.

The domestic aviation security charge was also reduced to $4.35.

It's a welcome move given that it's not very often that a government can reduce a charge of this kind.

While this charge is in place to ensure the security of passengers, we felt the level of recovery was too high. We hope airlines will pass most of these reductions onto their passengers.

The government has also announced recently that New Zealand will become a party to the Cape Town Convention and associated Aircraft Protocol.

This will reduce the cost of financing for companies purchasing and leasing aircraft, and the benefits will be in the millions of dollars. So it's good news for the aviation industry, and the country as a whole.

Finally, can I pay tribute to the work of the Airports Association. It is very important that we have your sector industry in developing policy and strategies for New Zealand.

Thank you for coming and enjoy the rest of the evening.