Our sister magazine, Routes News, gets up close and personal with Matthew Findlay, Christchurch Airport’s general manager, aeronautical business development.

Q) How have passenger and cargo traffic respectively performed at Christchurch during 2014?
A) "Each month, our performance has been improving remarkably. We’ve closed out the financial year with approximately 4% growth internationally and 3% growth domestically. That‘s a great result, which echoes the stronger economic performance of the region that is now well under way. Canterbury is New Zealand’s fastest growing region, with recent GDP growth in excess of 6%. A key focus is to increase our widebody capacity, to meet growing airfreight demand as a result of this robust growth."

Q) In the past 12 months, what has been your biggest air service achievement, or the highlight for your team?
A) "Our greatest achievement has been to see some records broken and some extremely positive comments made by airline executives in respect to their own airlines’ performance in CHC. Nothing speaks more loudly than an airline saying publicly that its performance here is very good. It’s the best marketing we could have. In recent months, domestic and international load factors have reached record highs; monthly traffic volumes have broken records and volumes from core markets have grown at double digit rates. New services have also stimulated the market – the Perth service by 58%, for instance. Oh, and we were named runner up in our category for the Routes Asia Award."

Q) What learnings or experience has your team been able to take from other destinations following a major natural disaster?
A) "Our learnings have largely been our own, since they were from an unusual combination of more than 13,000 earthquakes, three once-in-a-hundred-years snow storms and volcanic ash clouds, all while we were building a new terminal. Probably the biggest learning was what a fantastic team of people we have at the airport – staff and volunteers who put their own issues aside to keep the airport running and our customers comfortable. That was a truly inspiring experience. A key learning has also been to demonstrate to the various stakeholders in our catchment economy how vital an airport is to maintain the visitor economy and trans-shipment of freight – two vital factors which are crucial to our local environment."

Q) How do you structure your air services team, and why have you opted for this structure?
A) "We have a small team, focused on key strategic elements to ensure we are growing markets and securing the right capacity from airline partners to meet demand. Being a smaller airport, we have to be creative in both the ways in which we go about engaging with airlines and stimulating the various aspects of the ‘visitor economy’. Ensuring we tap into various niche markets to fill planes results in a better mix of yields from various markets, which we anticipate will maintain route profitability better than just leaving that risk with the airline."

Q) Which route would you most like to see added and why?
A) "How many do you have room for? A connection between North East Asia and the South Island is a key focus. China is an obvious candidate, especially with significant trade growth in food, because Canterbury and the South Island are New Zealand’s food basket; in addition to ICT and manufacturing, putting aside the South Island’s natural beauty, which is a key volume attractor. North America is another obvious candidate, as is doing more ‘business as usual’ – filling in some schedule gaps to points in Australia, etc."

Q) What is your favourite part or attraction of the South Island?
A) "Having lived in the South Island for only three years, my family and I are really enjoying exploring its lesser known places. It’s hard to choose one place, as the really great thing about the South Island is that you don’t have to go far to have a truly wonderful experience. For instance, Hokitika on the West Coast has some wonderful native bush-walk experiences, such as TreeTops, and the town has some fantastic eclectic food offers. Another choice I’ve enjoyed is in a small township south of Lake Tekapo (another amazing location – world famous) called Omarama. There, my kids (aged 6, 4 and 2) helped my wife and I catch a salmon, which we then had cooked for us. We ate it on the lawn of the salmon farm’s restaurant in April – a stunning location and an all-of-family experience we don’t get often enough!"

Q) What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
A) "As a traveller – always stay with the crowd; and, when with your host – only do what they would be prepared to do. In business – surround yourself with the best people."

Q) What are you most likely to sing at karaoke?
A) "Sing? Me? You’ve got to be joking – but I have learned that Billy Joel’s We didn’t start the fire is one I can always speak – rather than sing – if I’ve been unlucky enough to be caught out."

This article originally appeared in our sister magazine, Routes News. DON'T MISS the latest issues of Routes News which are available at this year's World Routes.