NZ PM today on Trans Tasman travel. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/417657/won-t-be-too-long-before-trans-tasman-travel-starts-pm
Sounds like their deputy PM wants to start trans-Tasman travel up before the July school holiday period. From an economic perspective, I understand why. From a personal perspective, I won’t be going if trans-Tasman travel is happening by then because I booked my flights with Emirates and they have been cancelled. It would be too much of a scramble at this point to book flights with another carrier and rebook all the stuff I’ve had to cancel.
You should probably just ignore the palaver from Winston Peters, the Deputy PM. He’s the leader of the smaller party in the Coalition government and is engaging in a bit of posturing really as we get closer to the General Election in September. His party isn’t doing terribly well in the polls and may not make the 5% threshold to get back into parliament. The PM does a wonderful job of waving away his antics.
The NZ PM seems like she has a sensible head on her shoulders. There’s people on this side of the pond that hold similar opinions to the NZ deputy PM who are getting more airtime than they deserve. I find myself tuning out, just so I don’t get upset by it all.
Just started watching on Netflix the OJ Simpson series. Winston Peters reminds me of a few of the lawyers on that.....
Winston Peters is the kind of guy that would make a great drunk uncle at Christmas. Not so much a deputy pm. I've met a couple of journalists that "know" him fairly well, some pretty classic stories.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the...-could-open-in-september-20200527-p54x16.html Maybe September? Probably too late for the season and too late for our trip @climberman Safety first.
Sad, they would obviously know the numbers for August compared to September. But as you say safety first.
Still September Jacinda saying today https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/417789/travel-between-nz-and-australia-could-start-in-september
Yeah. This seems to be where we’re at now. Korea second wave well underway now and our government is getting super cautious in the face of increased clamour to reopen.
Perhaps the best time of year to ski Mt Ruapehu. 3m+ base, longer days, heaps and heaps and heaps of terrain. Just need to keep an eye on how they configure their mountain operations, to make sure there is sufficient terrain and lifts queues aren't too bad.
Received this email from Mt Ruapehu today: Covid-19 Update 28th May 2020 Kia ora, Firstly, we wish to thank you for your patience as we worked through the implications of Covid-19 on our financial and operational goals for winter 2020. We now have the green light to make some announcements on what you can expect at Mt Ruapehu this winter. We were able to have limited maintenance staff working on mountain preparing the ski areas when we moved to Alert Level 3, and the numbers were increased at Alert Level 2. We are now preparing to open both Turoa and Whakapapa Ski areas on 1st July 2020. This will be subject to snow conditions. There is still a lot of work to be completed to make Mt Ruapehu a safe and healthy place for our guests and staff, and obviously still some unknowns in the mix regarding Alert Levels and required protocols at time of opening. We have been saying for some time that winter 2020 will not look like a normal winter at Mt Ruapehu so what does this mean? Ticketing All ticketing will be online. There will be a very limited opportunity to purchase on-site but there will be no cash on the mountain this year. Any payments will be card only in all of our outlets including retail and food and beverage. We ask that you please jump online and purchase your lift passes before you reach the mountain, and use the Click and Collect machines on-site to collect your lift passes. Lift Operations Due to the time lost through lockdown, alongside the inability to bring in overseas expertise to work on some of our lifts, this means we will not be able to open every lift this season. Our focus has been on offering top to bottom skiing at both ski areas, with a beginner focused offering at Whakapapa’s Happy Valley. At Whakapapa, the following lifts will be in operation: • Happy Valley Carpets • Rangatira (Weekends and inclement weather days) • Sky Waka • Knoll T-Bar At Turoa, we will be operating: • Movenpick • Giant • High Noon The Valley T-Bar and Parklane/ Wintergarden may open later in the season dependent on demand. Whilst we recognize this might be some disappointing news for some of you, we had to make decisions based on a number of factors including: top to bottom skiing, reliability of the lift, ability to complete maintenance required and length of season we get from each lift. As a result of not every lift operating, we anticipate that our maximum daily capacity will be lower than usual so we can still account for physical distancing and spacing on the ski area and in our cafes. We will be releasing more information on this as we get closer to the season, but do not anticipate this will have much of an impact on Season and Life Pass holders. We are also encouraging mid-week skiing as much as possible to avoid those inevitable bluebird Saturday crowds! First Tracks First Tracks will not go ahead this season. For those of you who have purchased this upgrade as part of your Season Pass, our team will be in touch regarding a credit or refund. We have listened to your feedback on this product, and whilst we still see some merit in offering a Fast Track pass first thing each morning, we will be reviewing this for 2021. Night Skiing Night Skiing was introduced at Whakapapa a few years ago, and whilst the feedback has been positive, the take up of this experience has been very low. We have decided to not proceed with it for winter 2020 due to the fickle nature of our weather and inability to offer a reliable night ski product, and the subsequent pressure this adds to our financial position. This will be reviewed again for 2021. Transport & Shuttles RAL will not be offering customer shuttles for this season. With the reduced capacity on the mountain, we see little need for a scheduled large capacity service, so will instead be recommending the local operators who can coordinate smaller numbers when the road is restricted. Details can be found here: Visit Ruapehu Shuttles Staff and employment Sadly, with the borders closed, we won’t be joined by our overseas ski whanau this season – so this will naturally leave some gaps in our teams. Fortunately, we have been able to retain all of our permanent and summer staff through the lockdown, and we have a great bunch of returning staff who will be able to fill some other vacancies. Anyone who had an existing application with us prior to the COVID-19 lockdown will be contacted before positions are re-advertised to reconfirm your interest in employment. There may be some gaps however, and these will be advertised on our Jobs page on the website as soon as we have confirmed our returning staff for winter 2020. Our permanent team have all made sacrifices through lockdown, accepting a reduction in pay and hours, in order to ensure we have a winter season and it’s important we acknowledge their continued efforts to provide a great experience on the maunga this year. It hasn’t been an easy few months for them or our company, but we’re really pleased to be able to confirm winter 2020 will go ahead and we’re looking forward to welcoming you here soon. We’ll have more information to announce to you over the next few weeks as we edge closer to our opening date. We’re looking forward to winter 2020 and aim to provide you with as much skiing and riding as possible across both ski areas for as many days as the weather allows. A heartfelt thank you for hanging in there with us, we know this has been an uncertain time for you all as pass holders at Mt Ruapehu, and we really do value your loyalty. Kind regards Jono Dean and the team at RAL
We're playing it a bit safe and organising for a Spring session in QT (from Brisbane). It may be likely that we can "bubble travel" in late July but it's still an uncertainty. Fingers crossed it all gets sorted out by September.
This has been the case in other parts of the South Island for years, and is a result of funding cuts by central govt over the last few years.
yes they’re pretty isolated up at Castle Hill and beyond? Looks like it needs a bit of infrastructure- say like what’s happening around Cardrona village / pub? I guess it’s v chicken & egg - needs more no’s. Coming through to warrant development. I thought the new Aussie owners were really going to plough (no pun!) some coin into Porters? Cold feet? No market? Maybe trying Japan instead? Curious!
https://sohobasin.com/shop/ski-pass-2020 Cardies/TC season pass for $799 for a short time. Good deal. Don't know how Soho can sell these cheaper than Cardies?
Here we go. Air NZ talking 800 days till international services resume to covid free destinations trans Tasman Bubble possibly earlier. Guess I'll have to lash out on that Yeti SB 130 MTB I've had my eye on. Kia ora. COVID-19 has taken an enormous toll on our business. Our revenue has dropped from $6 billion a year to just a fraction of that, we have gone from carrying almost 18 million customers a year to flying just a few thousand a day, and we have just gone through a round of consultation that will see nearly 4,000 Air New Zealanders leave the business. It’s a challenge unlike any we’ve faced before. Fast-forward 800 days and my vision is of a successful airline that: • Takes care of our customers better than any other airline on earth • Is operationally efficient and excellent at all we do • Enables Kiwis to fly again domestically and internationally to countries free of Covid-19 • Plays a critical role in helping the New Zealand economy get back on its feet and • Shares the success of New Zealand as its proud national carrier However, in order to get there we have a tough road ahead of us. We first need to Survive, then Revive, and finally Thrive – and I’d like to take the time to share with you an outline of our 800 day plan. Please enjoy reading the themes of our 800 day plan which will ultimately deliver even greater care and experiences to you – our customers. Survive The Survive platform of our plan is likely to run until the end of August this year. We have to cut costs across the business and already we have sadly said farewell to 4000 Air New Zealanders. Survive is a whole-of-company approach and no area is immune. We have had to start radically overhauling our cost base. From grounding our 777 fleet to deferring expenditure on new aircraft, hangers and parking; seeking savings across contracts in our supply chain and leases for aircraft; Executive roles, office space and even company vehicles. We are leaving no stone unturned. Our wage bill is down by a third now but our revenue has fallen by more than two thirds. We need to balance the scales further. Today, we start Phase 2 to remove around $150 million from our wages bill as part of a suite of other changes to our cost base to put Air New Zealand in the shape to be able to meet our 800-day ambition for August 2022. We will be immediately engaging with Air New Zealanders and their union representatives as we investigate how best to reduce the labour bill. We are open to all options that help meet our cost saving goals, but I do want to be clear that we need to brace ourselves for more discussions around redundancies, leave without pay, reduced hours and voluntary exits. Thinking this through carefully will be important so that as the airline regains more customers and routes we are ready to take that volume on. I am really sorry that we are in a situation of needing to reduce our wages bills further, but I believe this is what we need to do with some urgency to get through the Survive phase. As you know Air New Zealand finds itself in a predicament unlike any it has faced before. We’ve had challenges for sure, but never one where our revenue has effectively evaporated from $6 billion last year to almost nothing for a couple of months. Revenue will slowly return but in the next financial year it is likely to be less than half what we used to earn. This has put our finances under great stress. In this Survive platform we must develop new ways of working, become more flexible and adaptive to what we are facing and with it we will simply stop doing some activities. If we get this right, this will be an exciting period of reinvention to help set us up for the next phase - Revive. Some of Air New Zealand’s greatest innovations came out of the dark days of Ansett and the Global Financial Crisis – and we’ll do all we can to encourage that same level of creativity and innovation again. Revive We expect to spring into the Revive section of our journey from 1 September, if we have completed the Survive platform and reduced our cost base to match the much smaller business we are than pre-COVID-19. We are also hopeful that around this time the nation will well and truly have returned to Level 1 and that Tasman and Pacific Island flying could be returning for leisure and business travellers. However, we are not factoring a return to long haul flying of any note until next year. We believe that until there is a vaccine, effective treatment or elimination of the disease in key markets, the New Zealand Government will not fully open its borders for growth in long haul air travel. That said one glimmer of hope of late has been the extra cargo movements, which are helping the economy and our cashflow as well as the heartening support we are seeing in domestic travel. Nevertheless, the reality is that during our Revive period we will be a much smaller airline, growing gradually as routes open and customer confidence returns. We will use this phase to develop new products and services, while creating innovative ways to encourage Kiwis to travel for business and leisure. Importantly, digital will be at the core of all we do. Air New Zealand’s customer experience of tomorrow must mirror that which consumers expect of a leading digital company, otherwise, we will not be relevant and we’ll fail to meet our full potential. So, Thrive We are determined to get through the next 800 days, so that by August 2022 we hit the Thrive section of our plan, when we will be a digital company that monetises through aviation and tourism in a very sustainable manner. This will be a time where our customers, stakeholders, shareholders and all Air New Zealanders benefit from the hard work and innovation of the Survive and Revive phases of our journey. As we Thrive we will not focus on size, but on quality. We will be smaller, flying fewer routes but we will not change our outstanding reputation for care, compassion and heart. The pride that comes with being our country’s national carrier. These values stand us apart. We will also lead in areas relating to climate change, particularly carbon emissions. Our airline will operate with precision and humanity. Our domestic jet and regional operations are highly efficient and need to be for our business customers. The Tasman and Pacific Islands offer the best value option for all our customers. International is focused on an excellent product offering and delivery for our business and premium leisure customers. Supported by best in class digital products across all fleets, allowing for seamless customer and staff interaction which improves the experience and reduces our costs. We will not only recognise our customers but understand them and know how they feel, which will allow us to offer world class service always and to exceed expectations wherever it matters most in their journey with us. If we can nail all that, I am hopeful that we may even be a bit bigger than the 70% of our former size that we are preparing for. And we owe it to all the Air New Zealanders who have left us through redundancy, or who are on furlough, or who are on reduced hours, to achieve that and to get them back into the airline full time. They are our whānau. Every airline in the world has been stunned by the COVID-19 pandemic. This event is not a hiccup; very few airlines will return to the former ways of working. The survivors will be more focused, lower cost and provide better customer service. We want to thrive in this environment, realising our ambition to take care better than any other airline on earth. Together we can make this happen. Thank you for your ongoing support of our airline in this difficult time. Ngā mihi nui, Greg Foran CEO Unsubscribe Update Preferences Terms & conditions Privacy centre Copyright © 2020 Air New Zealand Limited.
Anyone know how that works? Not that it helps me as I got the early-bird $999 as the $799 was Cardies only.
Sounds like typically convoluted Darby business. I suspect they secured some allocation of cardrona passes as part of the Soho deal, and are selling them off to make a buck? Who knows. That situation is weird imho, and I don't think it'll be good for cardrona (or TC) long term.
NZ to Level 1 restrictions as of midnight tonight. Fat lot of good for those of us in Qld, where the border is still closed.
NZ border entry still strictly enforced for the foreseeable future. No mention of the start of a trans Tasman bubble with community transmissions stil occurring in Australia. Have a look at RNZ or NZ herald if interested in what Jacinta had to say.
See this email from CARL when I asked them about it. Not a promising start to their 'partnership' - "Thanks for reaching out. Cardrona Alpine Resort are the only authorised sellers of season passes for Cardrona x Treble Cone and we are not associated to the Soho Basin website. We were unaware that these passes were going to go on sale – when Cardrona purchased TC part of the agreement was that the shareholders get life season passes at TC. One of the shareholders, who was entitled to multiple life season passes, is now on selling their season passes. The season passes available through the Soho website are valid at Cardrona / TC this season, however you will not be covered by Cardrona Alpine Resort’s terms and conditions (inclusive of our COVID19 T&Cs) – they will be under the Heritage Incline Limited who are selling these passes. These passes that are available through the Soho website are not entitled to any of the on-mountain/off-mountain perks that a season pass purchased through CARL are entitled to."
Japan bubble may be sooner https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/121783111/air-new-zealand-resuming-flights-to-japan
Wouldn't expect anything before September and even then only if Australia is down a long stretch of zero community transmissions (or even Covid-free). On Jacinta saying September being realistic I have taken a punt on Qantas Points flights and a cancellable AirBNB....won't gamble on the early bird passes (although tempting)
Winston is in full campaign mode now. Trying to get his party up over the 5% threshold in the election in September or he is goneburger. He’s currently polling about 2.7%. There’s just no way Ardern will allow the border with Australia to reopen while there are new cases cropping up over there.
We had to go over 2 weeks straight with daily zero new cases before she would even consider going down to Level 1.
