Jim Eagles: For he's a jolly good fellow

COMMENT

Three cheers for Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey and his mad, quixotic campaign on behalf of air travellers. His efforts to have the old Whenuapai Air Base turned into a second airport for Auckland are a bold bid to reverse the iron law of air travel that as it gets faster and cheaper to fly anywhere it becomes slower and more expensive to get on the plane.

We have all seen the law in operation.

Aircraft have certainly got faster over the years - though with Concord being taken out of service that process may be slowing - but has the time between home and destination actually reduced?

Not for anyone who lives in Mayor Harvey's Waitakere City or on the North Shore (or, I suspect, from the south and east, either).

The messy, traffic-clogged access to Auckland International Airport means passengers from north and west (and presumably from some parts of the east and south, too) are well-advised to allow a couple of hours for the drive.

Even making allowances for that much time I recently missed a flight to Wellington when a minor accident on the Newmarket flyover jammed up the motorway system and it took over an hour to get across the harbour bridge.

On the other hand, on good days the trip can take as little as 45 minutes so you get to spend over an hour enjoying the delights of the air terminals. Either way, having to allow two hours to get to the airport means it is now somewhat irrelevant that it takes less than an hour to fly to Wellington.

On top of that, if you're going overseas the new security requirements mean you're supposed to get to the airport two hours beforehand.

Quite what spending an hour an a half wandering around the international departure lounge does for security I'm not sure, though it may well boost sales at the shops.

But the end result is that what with allowing enough time to get to the airport and complying with the check-in requirements you can add four hours to the total trip time.

As a result, the fact that you can now fly to Sydney in under three hours is not particularly impressive.

If a new facility was developed at Whenuapai it might not make much difference to the two-hour check-in business - though that might become a matter of competitive advantage - but it would certainly give a lot of passengers easier and faster access to an airport.

A shorter travelling time to the airport would definitely reduce the cost of taxi or fares.

Better still, Mayor Harvey's Whenuapai dream should give a timely shake-up to Auckland International Airport and its cosy, monopolistic profits.

For a start, the idea of competition should stimulate the airport company and its local body shareholders into pushing harder to get the long-awaited improved road access completed some time this century.

It should also put a bit of pressure on the constant increases in ground costs which are eroding the benefits of the marvellously low fares being delivered by the ferocious competition in the air.

Don't get me wrong, I think Auckland International Airport is a marvellously well-run operation, but it is a monopoly, it does make fat profits and, notwithstanding the watching eye of the Commerce Commission, it doesn't have much problem putting up its charges.

It would, for instance, be great if the presence of an alternative airport made the airport think twice about continuing to crank up its car-parking charges, which in recent years have climbed rapidly to $20 a day.

It would also be interesting to see the effect competition might have on the $25 airport development charge all passengers must pay.

And doubtless, the airlines would be interested to compare the airport's landing fees, terminal charges, counter rentals, and so on with those applying at a new Whenuapai.

Across the Tasman there is an interesting situation where Qantas' cutprice subsidiary, Jetstar, has announced it will use Avalon airport, 50km south of Melbourne, rather than the main Melbourne Airport precisely because it is offering lower charges.

An airport at Whenuapai could also be expected to compete for business on the basis of significantly lower charges to airlines - which could well translate into even lower fares - more efficient operation, less waiting time, lower parking fees and easier access.

All of that sounds great news for air travellers.

Unfortunately it's hard to see it ever coming to pass because the interests lined up in opposition are extremely powerful.

But, then again, while Mayor Harvey is rather known for tilting at windmills, infrastructure company Infratil, which is prepared to back the Whenuapai proposal financially, is not.

Maybe we will one day see travelling times and costs reduced on the ground as well as in the air.

The mere possibility justifies cheering His Worship on to greater efforts.