“New Zealanders do not want foreigners to own our airline, nor do we want higher travel costs, and we certainly do not want to see the demise of Air New Zealand,” Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First said in New Plymouth today.

“The limit of 24.9 per cent foreign ownership still applies to Air New Zealand as it should apply to all of our strategic assets. New Zealand is NOT for sale!” said Mr Peters.

“The Government has no reason and no mandate to waive the limit on foreign ownership. There should be no such conversation, we are already convinced: Qantas should be told to put their cheque book away.”

“We have already got a balance of payments crisis contributed to by the repatriation of dividends to offshore owners and by high interest payments to offshore lenders. When is this country going to wake up?

“The Minister should be putting his time into developing a strategy of reinvestment in Air New Zealand that secures the future of our world class carrier and protects it from foreign raiders,” Mr Peters concluded.

ENDS

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