Associate Transport Minister James Meager this week launched the “Aviation Action Plan” — a 25-point strategic programme by the Interim Aviation Council in partnership with the government to grow and future-proof New Zealand’s aviation sector.
The plan outlined the series of steps needed to ensure the sector continued to support trade, tourism, regional connectivity and economic growth across the country, Mr Meager said.
“This action plan is a first for New Zealand and represents a major sector milestone.
“It’s a practical roadmap that tackles challenges facing aviation, including the need to embrace growth and innovation and build a skilled and sustainable workforce.”
Key actions included reworking specific civil aviation rules — including in emerging technologies like drones — tackling workforce issues by updating pilot and engineer training pipelines, strengthening passengers’ consumer rights and improving accessibility for disabled travellers.
Reductions to certification wait times, promoting aviation careers and improving the pace of regulatory decision-making were also proposed.
Mainland Air chief executive Phil Kean said there was “a lot of repetitive stuff” in the plan that had already been talked about for years — such as training in the aviation sector.
He had seen it all before and there was “nothing really new in the whole report”.
“There’s nothing for the flight training or our type of small charter work operation near Dunedin Airport.
“There’s nothing to crow about, so to speak.
“Nothing helps, we’ll just carry on as we’ve done before that was released.”
He did not think the actions outlined in the plan would make much of a difference to the airline, except for the changes to certification.
But even then, Mr Kean expected they could still take a long time to complete.
He also expected the related charges for airlines would continue to rise.
“There’s nothing there to say they’re going to drop it down at all, if anything they’ll put it up.”
While he was pleased there was recognition of a shortage of pilots and a need to speed up certification, recognition was all the plan had, Mr Kean said.
“It’s very easy to recognise something, but to actually do it is a different story.”
Mr Meager said progress had already been made on several actions.
This included targeted investment in regional routes through $30 million in loans from the Regional Infrastructure Fund.
“We have also commenced the system-wide first principles funding review of the Civil Aviation Authority, which is another recommendation.”
tim.scott@odt.co.nz
