Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand have announced that they are substantially cutting flights on the Dunedin to Brisbane route, as planes have been 50-60% full and their margins have been too low.

I have traveled on the Dunedin to Brisbane route more than 10 times in the last 3 years, and there has never ever been a flight that is 50-60% full. On average they have been at least 90%, and mostly full.

I would like to see Air New Zealand provide these figures.

I would also like to see how Air New Zealand justifies the high cost of flights out of Dunedin. They are always substantially cheaper elsewhere, and when sales are on they never include Dunedin.

I also note in another article that unlike QANTAS, Air New Zealands profits will not be majorly effected this year. Please explain why they are cutting flights.

Air New Zealand also say that flights "may return next year". Rubbish. They are softening the blow - THERE WILL BE NO INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS THIS TIME NEXT YEAR.

As hard as (most) of the residents try, Dunedin is looking more and more like a backwater every day.

Air New Zealand needs to change it's name to Air Profit - It is an embarrassment to have a monopoly like this have New Zealand in their name.

QANTAS Slash Jobs

QANTAS slashed jobs today in a bid to protect profit. Apparently they have downgraded their profit forecast to somewhere between $100 Million and $200 Million.

What right do big companies like this have to make multimillion dollar profits like this when everyone else is expected to do it tough?

Banks

Woo-hoo. My bank passed on a 0.10% interest rate reduction. Now what am I going to do with all the extra money - $6.00 a fortnight?

I thought about going out for a meal, but then that's 6 months worth gone right away.

Global financial crisis hits Hairy Goat Media

That's right, Hairy Goat Media has been struck down by the global financial crisis. As a result all posting had been suspended pending bailout from government authorities.

US President Obama has just announced a 100 billion dollar bailout of Hairy Goat Media. The money arrived in the mail today - Hairy Goat is back!

How Will They Cope?

Last week Telecom New Zealand announced their annual operating profit fell 15.5% for the last financial year.

Apparently they made a disappointing $NZ713,000,000.

However will they cope with only making three quarters of a billion dollars? I guess they'll have to overcharge even more.

The Price You Pay

Tonight upon going to the supermarket, my wife and I noticed that petrol was priced at $1.36.9 at the nearby Caltex.

That's a few cents down on last time we gassed up. So the plan was made - do the shopping, then get some fuel.

But less than an hour later, the same service station had changed the price to $1.44.9.

The price of a barrel of crude oil dropped over night by around $US3.

So.... Ummm... How the hell does the price increase!

Crude oil goes up - the price per litre goes up.

Crude oil goes down - it seems the price still goes up.

I wonder if my boss would accept me asking for money just because I feel like it on the day?

In fact, you owe me $1.25 for reading this post (tomorrow it'll be $1.40.9, so count yourself lucky!)