RAROTONGA (Pacnews) — Rarotonga is to get an extra weekly flight to Los Angeles via Tahiti.
A meeting in Auckland, New Zealand between a Cook Islands delegation led by Prime Minister Robert Woonton and Air New Zealand chief executive officer Ralph Norris resulted in the announcement of the new service earlier this week.
The new flight replaces the weekly direct flight between Rarotonga and Los Angeles, which will be dropped early next year.
The meeting was called in response to the airline’s announcement of changes in schedules to the Cook Islands from Jan. 2003, which would have meant the removal of non-stop services between Rarotonga and Los Angeles. It would also have resulted in a reduction in services from three flights to two a week—both operating via Tahiti, which could have had a serious impact on the number of visitors to the Cook Islands from America, Canada and Europe.
The Cook Islands delegation outlined the government’s concerns at the implications of the proposed changes on the tourism industry and the economy of the Cook Islands.
Norris outlined Air New Zealand’s position and described the major setbacks it had gone through in the last 18 months. He said the airline was determined to return to profitability as soon as possible, which had meant reviewing all routes and restructuring them to improve capacity and yield.
Cook Islands Tourism Corp. chief executive officer Chris Wong, who was involved in the discussions, said the meeting had gone well, with Air New Zealand agreeing to maintain three services.
“Both parties agreed to work closely to ensure the services will be competitive and undertook to liaise further on a number of issues,” Wong said.
The prime minister’s delegation included Wong, Tourism Corp. board chairman Don Beer Jr., Chamber of Commerce President Ewan Smith, inbound operator/board member Robert Skews and Eddie Drollet of the Office of the Prime Minister.
The prime minister and Drollet then traveled on to Wellington to make a courtesy call on New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Phil Goff.
