A short introduction Five things I’ve learned that everyone should know about airports

2. A short introduction • Five things I’ve learned that everyone should know about airports • What does a great association look like?

3. Kevin

4. 54 years old

5. Married to Barbara

6. Who makes concrete letter boxes

7. We have three kids

8. Beth on Bebo

10. a ‘gap year’

12. In a house which will be 100 years old this year

13. Have a degree in Geography and wrote a Masters thesis

14. On coastal erosion

15. Before joining the Ministry of Transport which at the time was responsible for managing Foreshores and Seabed

16. which back then didn’t have such a familiar ring to it

17. As a coastal geographer, quickly became involved in economics and state sector reforms

18. Replaced harbour boards with port companies, and changed the waterfront labour system

19. Which qualified me to become the Director of Marine, in charge of sailors, ships, boilers, lifts and cranes

20. Which naturally led

21. To the job of Director of Civil Aviation

22. Which as a coastal geographer with no knowledge of ships I was particularly well qualified for

23. As Director of Civil Aviation I quickly learned

24. That the common theme in all the undesirable events in the aviation sector

25. Is that they all had the same civil aviation authority

26. Which was therefore logically the cause of

27. the grounding of the entire Air NZ B737 fleet, on a Friday afternoon

28. Volcanic eruptions

29. An air traffic controllers strike

30. An airline crash on the hills just behind us The Dash that crashed The crash of an Ansett Dash 8 in the foothills of the Tararua Range on 9 June 1995 was the result of a cluster of causes. On the approach to Palmerston North airport, the pilots had difficulty lowering the plane’s undercarriage (it was a design flaw that had been previously identified). Instead of climbing to a safe altitude while fixing the problem, they continued descending on an instrument approach in cloud. While they were distracted the plane collided with a hill; four people died and others were seriously injured.

31. An adventure aviation activity called the rack, which involved

32. hanging passengers on a chain under a helicopter while low flying over active thermal areas

33. Imposing user charges to cost recover for safety audits that operators didn’t want

34. Under new rules they opposed but didn’t understand

35. Which after nine years qualified me

36. as a consultant

37. Which after seven years finally qualified me

38. to join NZ Airports

39. Which brings me to the five key things I have learned since joining the Association

40. Which I think everyone should know

41. 1. Despite the conventional wisdom, NZ airports are not the most costly in the world

42. In fact they are very reasonable

43. Compared to Australian airports

44. And all the major destinations around the world visited by Air NZ

45. 2. NZ airport infrastructure is in good shape

46. In fact it is a major success story compared to some other infrastructure sectors

47. And airports in some other countries Problems continue at Heathrow's Terminal 5 LONDON — British Airways canceled 54 more short-haul flights at Heathrow Airport's problem-plagued new Terminal 5 on Monday. Almost 300 flights have been scrapped and some 15,000 bags have been separated from their owners since the state-of-the-art terminal opened last Thursday. Airport operators have said the problems were triggered by glitches with the terminal's high-tech baggage-handling system. The chaos has been a major embarrassment for British Airways and the airport operator, BAA. They hope the £4.3 billion, or $8.6 billion, terminal will transform Heathrow's reputation as a grubby, overcrowded transport hub

48. 3. NZ airports are the good news behind the good news

49. Low fares and a choice of airlines

50. - Are possible because airports have provided the capacity and facilities for competing airlines