Auckland airport well rid of Dubai Aerospace, Greens say

The moves by Dubai Aerospace to oppose Air New Zealand’s right to seek a judicial review of Auckland airport’s charges shows the huge risk of having a key strategic asset such as Auckland International Airport in foreign ownership, Green Party Aviation Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.

“Air New Zealand has every right to seek a judicial review of Auckland airport’s charges. Air New Zealand was always concerned that once Dubai Aerospace owned the airport, it might use the power to set airport charges to favour the Emirates airline, at the expense of the national carrier. The extreme response today by Dubai Aerospace shows that such fears may have been well founded.

“The whole sorry episode demonstrates very clearly why it would not be in our national interest to have the airport in foreign ownership,” Ms Kedgley says.

“It shows the huge influence and control that a foreign owner could exert – not only on the airport but also on the competitiveness of our national airline. Last year, public opposition to Dubai's control of key strategic assets in the United States caused the collapse of its bid to buy several ports in the New York area. For good reason, the same outcome now seems to be occurring here, over Auckland airport.

“It is totally unacceptable that a potential owner of the airport could be linked to a rival airline, since it would almost certainly seek to operate the airport in a way that gave preferential treatment to the foreign airline," Ms Kedgley says. .

“It is hard to understand why the Board of Auckland International airport could have contemplated such a bid. It suggests that they are more interested in short term profitability than the national and strategic interests of New Zealand.

"The other potential bidders – Australia Pacific Airport, Macquarie Bank and Canada Pension Plan – raise equally substantial risks. New Zealand cannot afford the economic, environmental and security risks of letting control of our main airline gateway pass into foreign hands," Ms Kedgley says.