Fush 'n' Chups

Some good developments regarding trans-Tasman travel in the last couple of days:

Border deal to cut airfares

Prime Minister John Key will this week announce a significant breakthrough in his drive to turn international trans-Tasman flights into domestic ones, a move expected t cut airfares and reduce travel times.

And as reported from the other side of the ditch:

Cheap NZ flights as Tasman union looms

FLYING from Australia to New Zealand will become almost as cheap and easy as domestic travel under a plan to bring the two countries a step closer to a common border.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and NZ Prime Minister John Key will this Thursday announce new efforts to streamline trans-Tasman travel, potentially scrapping departure taxes, duplication of quarantine, customs and security checks and allowing planes to land at domestic terminals.

All sounds pretty positive, and as our glorious manager-in-chief says, it’s “moving into decision-making territory”. That can only mean it’s heading into the final committee and ready for cost-benefit analysis, risk-assessment, and an ROI evaluation. All in all, it’ll probably be in place by 2015.

But anyway, anything to make flights cheaper is fine by me. I might even get to pop over to see a couple of footy matches next year if this is not all completely speculative.

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