Shareholders tackle Auckland Airport
Thursday, 26 October 2017
Attempts to force Auckland International Airport (AIA) to manage its own fuel supply and take further measures on climate change have failed.
The airport was hit by a jet fuel crisis last month when a digger hit the pipeline that transports jet fuel from a Northland refinery. Numerous flights were cancelled across nine days.
Shareholder Peter Wakeman put three votes to the company's annual meeting on Thursday, asking to investigate ways fuel could be transported to the airport by ship and stored onsite, find ways to further limit CO2 emissions, and lobby the Government for debt-free money to make climate change financially viable.
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Chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden asked shareholders to vote against them saying it was a company matter and was being addressed.
He said the airport had good storage on a global comparison, that oil companies and independent storage facilities were responsible for fuel supply, and added the airport had insurance to cover fuel interruptions meaning the cost to the airport of the recent crisis was only a few hundred thousand dollars.
Independent on-site storage tanks combined with Wiri storage meant the airport had fuel contingency of 13 days normal operation, van der Heyden said.
On climate change, he and chief executive Adrian Littlewood said it had been under consideration since 2005, was on the company's risk register, and was being managed 'as best as possible'.
In less heated discussions during the two-hour meeting, it emerged that passengers could pay an extra $1.19 per flight if Auckland International Airport opens a second runway as planned.
'Based on an opening date of 2028 we expect earthworks for the new runway to start around 2020 or 2021,' Littlewood said.
'If the construction of the second runway is confirmed, we intent to introduce a modest runway land charge of $1.19 (excluding GST) per passenger at that time.
While the charge would be imposed on the airlines using the airport, it is likely they would pass it on to passengers through ticket prices.
The airport makes money by charging airlines to use it, and through its own retail, parking and transport operations. Thirty international airlines use Auckland International Airport.
Directors were also voted a 2 per cent pay rise in their annual fees.
'This will be the easiest we've ever got away with this,' van der Heyden joked.
Challenged by a shareholder on staff pay, he said the board had approved an average 2.5 per cent pay increase across airport staff.
Littlewood, responding to a question on how Government plans to lift the living wage to $20 per hour by 2020 would affect airport finances, said no airport staff were on the minimum wage.
The new Government plans to build light rail from Auckland city to the airport were also discussed, with Littlewood saying more details and costings were needed before serious comment could be made.
'I think the answer [to access to Auckland Airport] are multi-modal and interconnected,' he said.
Littlewood rejected a shareholder request to reinstate airport signs telling travellers that tipping was not part of New Zealand culture, saying it wasn't the airport's job to regulate cultural conduct.
Questions about a second airport, on Auckland's North Shore, were rebuffed.
'There's still so much more growth opportunity for us to expand our infrastructure at Auckland Airport,' van der Heyden said.
'We need to actually fix access to the airport, not build another airport.'