Freedom Air Nz

To The Front: Joining The 'Freedom Ride' Of Our Generation

Today New Zealander Harmeet Sooden flies from Auckland to join Freedom Flotilla 2 on its voyage to beat the Israeli siege of Gaza. Harmeet has a place on a Canadian vessel which is part of a 12-boat humanitarian mission loaded with medical aid for the beleaguered people of Gaza.

Gaza is the sixth most densely populated place on earth and the world’s largest open-air prison where 1.6 million Palestinians live – most in desperate poverty with 70% relying on humanitarian aid to survive.

Israel made much political capital of its withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 but in reality Israeli troops have just shifted from one side of the border fence to the other and maintained a medieval land and sea siege of the Palestinian territory. Palestinian fishing boats are regularly fired on by Israeli navy and until recently Gaza’s border with Israel was closed as well.

This new attempt to breach the blockade follows last year’s brutal, cowardly attack on the Turkish boat Mavi Marmara in international waters by Israeli commandoes. Nine humanitarian aid workers were killed.

But support for the Palestinian struggle is building internationally and countries from across the globe will be represented on the boats. Harmeet is New Zealand’s representative.

Taking part this year will also will be veteran US civil rights activist Alice Walker (author of the acclaimed book The Colour Purple) She will be joining the flotilla and when she describes it as “the freedom ride of this generation” she’s referring to the historic freedom ride from Washington into the southern states of the US in 1961 as activists challenged deeply entrenched racism against black Americans.

In 2011 the Freedom Flotilla continues the same spirit. Israel’s apartheid policies towards its Arab population, its blockade of Gaza and its brutal military occupation of the West Bank are the political targets of the flotilla.

It’s great to have a New Zealander as part of this international protest. It helps make up for the shame brought on this country by singer Kiri Te Kanawa who recently sang at the Israel Festival despite international appeals for her to join the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign to bring international pressure against Israeli policies.

Air NZ to ground Freedom Air | Stuff.co.nz

Palmerston North hopes to attract another trans-Tasman airline after Air New Zealand said it is axing its budget Freedom Air services from the city.

After operating Freedom Air for 10 years and carrying more than four million passengers, Air NZ will end the no-frills service next March in order to attract more customers, and replace the flights with Air NZ.

Palmerston North airport manager Garry Goodman is currently talking to other airlines in Australia, and will report to an airport board meeting next week.

"We've been talking to other airlines for some time to supplement the existing Freedom service, but now we can tell them that they can pick up where Air New Zealand has left off," Mr Goodman said.

Plans to extend Palmerston North's airport runway would proceed, city councillor Gordon Cruden said.

"Indeed it increases its urgency because of the need to attract other airlines. They will fly similar Airbus 300s and Boeings 737s needing the same compliance with RESA safety requirements and assurances of a future lengthening to 2200 metres," Mr Cruden said.

Pacific Blue recently announced it would set up a low-cost domestic airline, but that would not initially include flights to Palmerston North. The airline may consider expanding to other airports in two years' time if demand was good enough.

Another planned airline, Kiwijet, would include Palmerston North in its schedule, and there was speculation that Singapore budget airline Tiger Airways was eyeing a service to New Zealand.

Air NZ had planned to continue flying to Sydney and Brisbane from Palmerston North with Qantas under a planned codeshare agreement, which regulators turned down.

However, demand did not justify a trans-Tasman operation out of the city, despite the popularity of Brisbane flights during some months, Air NZ executive Norm Thompson said.

Wellington was expected to be the main beneficiary, with Air NZ deploying extra capacity to other centres. Air NZ was also adding a service to Coolangatta, and departures from Dunedin and Hamilton.

Trans-Tasman customers had expressed a strong preference for the airline to focus on upgrading and enhancing services, Mr Thompson said.

In addition, competition had pushed down airfares, meaning there was little difference between Freedom and Air NZ fares.

No redundancies were anticipated. Affected staff were being consulted and would be offered jobs within the group.

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