Air New Zealand and Qantas today lodged an appeal with the New Zealand High Court against the New Zealand Commerce Commission's determination to decline the airlines' Alliance authorisation applications.
Air New Zealand Chairman John Palmer said that the Boards of both Air New Zealand and Qantas had carefully reviewed the NZCC's final determination and had received advice from leading international economists and prominent competition lawyer Jim Farmer QC that the Commission's determination is seriously flawed and that the factual and economic evidence provide strong grounds for an appeal.
"Based upon the strength of the legal advice the Air New Zealand and Qantas Boards received, it would have been negligent for the respective Boards not to proceed with an appeal," said Mr Palmer.
Air New Zealand Chief Executive Ralph Norris said that much of the Commission's determination is based on analysis, assumptions and information that does not stand up to scrutiny, or indeed, bear any resemblance to the commercial realities of the aviation market.
"The High Court appeal is likely to be heard in the middle of next year. As the appeal documents have now been lodged with the High Court, it is inappropriate to comment further on the details of the appeal until such time as it is heard.
"In the meantime, it is business as usual for Air New Zealand as we continue to focus on providing our customers with great value in an increasingly competitive market," said Mr Norris.
NOTE: The content of all Air New Zealand media releases are accurate at the time of issue, as stated at the top of each release. For updates on any changes, please contact Air New Zealand.
Air New Zealand is proud to be a member of Star Alliance. The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award, Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, bmi, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Aegean Airlines, Air India, Brussels Airlines and TAM have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers 19,500 daily flights to 1,071 airports in 171 countries.
For more information about Air New Zealand visit www.airnewzealand.com and for more information about Star Alliance visit www.staralliance.com.
