The Kiwis have landed
FOSTERING an Asia-Cairns-Auckland flight route is key to Auckland International Airport's investment in North Queensland Airports.
Auckland International Airport in New Zealand has announced it will buy a $132.8 million stake in NQA from Westpac Bank.
NQA is a consortium which owns and operates Cairns and Mackay airports.
Auckland International chief executive Simon Moutter said Auckland and New Zealand had suffered a tourism downturn similar to Cairns.
"There's a shared intention and recognition that we need to do better in tourism," Mr Moutter told cairns.com.au.
"In the year to June 2009, there was a 17 per cent fall in Japanese arrivals at Auckland Airport. New Zealand tourism has been propped up by Australian in-bound tourism and that is not sustainable in the long term."
Mr Moutter said Cairns and Auckland had "shared objectives" in trying to build a larger stake in Asian tourism, particularly from China.
"If you look at the map, Cairns is in a straight line between Auckland and China," he said.
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