Subj : Latest NZDF plane breakdown 'embarrassing', cost to be determined
To   : All
From : News
Date : Mon Jun 17 2024 01:03 pm

By 1News Reporters
9:03am

The latest NZDF plane breakdown in Papua New Guinea that forced Christopher
Luxon to fly to Tokyo on a commercial flight yesterday has been labelled
"embarrassing", as much of the delegation waits to join the prime minister in
Asia.

The Boeing 757 Defence Force plane blew two fuses while refuelling in Papua
New Guinea yesterday, grounding the plane overnight.

The Prime Minister continued onto Japan via Hong Kong, but others in the
delegation stayed the night in PNG. They will head for Brisbane this morning
before an Auckland - Tokyo Air New Zealand flight detours to pick them up.

1News Political Editor Maiki Sherman was among those stuck in Port Moresby
and told Breakfast the breakdown of the "old, rickety planes" made the
country look bad on the world stage.

"It's embarrassing, humiliating, not just for the Government, but for us as a
nation," she said.

"We go on these trade trips with the Prime Minister [and] he's got a big
business delegation with him, including the heavyweights of the New Zealand
economic sector, the heads of Fonterra, the heads of Air New Zealand, and the
like.

"And yet we cannot get to the destination because of our old rickety planes".

She acknowledged the "headache" the diversion would cause those on the Air NZ
flight.

Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran told reporters in PNG last night
there was "just enough" room on the flight to fit the delegation.

"It's good that we can help out, and that's what we should do."

He said the cost of the flight would be worked out after the fact.

Trade Minister Todd McClay said the cost will be worked out "as we go".

"Ultimately, there was going to be a cost anyway because we had to get to
Brisbane and then get people on a commercial airline to get there.

"This is a much better solution."

Japan visit 'significant'
Sherman said this trade trip was "significant" for New Zealand as a nation as
Japan was its fifth largest trading partner.

"This is high level stuff, we need to get there."

Earlier, Luxon said Japan would play a vital role in the coalition
Government's goal of doubling exports within 10 years.

"We've got good exporting firms, but we really want them all to scale up and
become much, much larger and become much more global firms as a result of
doing that."

Sherman said that, luckily, the PM wouldn't miss any meetings, which "is the
good thing, I guess".

Sherman said there has been "discussion for quite some time" about whether
it's time to retire and upgrade the old planes, but she said it was very
complicated.

The biggest issue regarding upgrades was cost.

"It costs a lot of money to change a fleet like that because it's not just a
fleet that carries around VIP guests, but it's also a working aeroplane," she
said.

"It's not a simple kind of switch."

When asked if all international trips should be made via commercial airlines,
Sherman said it would be difficult to bring delegations as everyone would
have to pay for their own tickets.

In March, Luxon had to fly to Melbourne commercially for the ASEAN conference
after the plane broke down before leaving the tarmac in Wellington.

Defence Minister Judith Collins described it as "embarrassing" at the time.

"A moment's embarrassment is difficult but nothing like the fact that a lot
of people are in a cost-of-living crisis ... we just need to get to be a
richer country."

Collins had brought forward the Defence Force capability review from
September to June this year and would be waiting for its outcome before
making any decisions on the fleet, she said.

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