Shane Jones comes out swinging at Air NZ, says he's 'thoroughly unimpressed' with treatment of regional services

The NZ First MP's comments follow the carrier's decision to cut flights between Kapiti Coast and Christchurch.

Shane Jones has come out swinging at our national carrier Air New Zealand accusing it of letting down the regions while he's trying to build them up.

An Air New Zealand management team awkwardly listened on as the Minister of Economic Development launched into the company at a funding announcement for a new terminal in the Bay of Islands on Friday.

"Air New Zealand represents those of us who live in the provinces and not just in Queen Street and take that message back to your board," Mr Jones said publicly.

His comments follow a recent Air NZ decision to cut flights between Kapiti Coast and Auckland and scaling back or stopping flights to a number of other regional airports including Kaitaia in recent years.

"I am thoroughly unimpressed by Air New Zealand wanting to continually downgrade regional services whilst we are spending money to develop regional opportunity. I don’t think that Air New Zealand ought to be focused just on areas where it's a safe bet.

"They need to step up to the plate and help develop the regions by keeping connectivity. Kaitaia seems to have gone with the wind and now Kapiti is a further casualty.”

The government owns 53 per cent of Air New Zealand after bailing it out of financial difficulty in 2001.

Mr Jones says Air New Zealand not only needs to look at its strategy, but at the aspirations of their owners as well, reminding Air NZ representatives their main shareholder is the Crown.

The Air NZ representatives were at the event to show support for the new terminal but declined to comment on the Ministers comments.

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