Dear Editor, oh well, you want to play with Air New Zealand, now you have to comply with their demands.

Time to cut ties and allow other airlines to do business in the Cook Islands without Air NZ looking at what they are doing or having monopoly being the biggest airline operating in the Cooks. Other airlines want to come in but the Government won’t allow because of its interest and obligations to Air NZ. That’s one silly thought to keep Air NZ as the major player, now they want you the Government what’s owed to them (owed tax).

A prominent Cook Islands businessman wants to open up flights from NZ to Rarotonga but can’t and I think because of this very same issue of having to keep Air NZ happy, isn’t it? Fifty years later or almost, Cook Islands government still looking after them because the government back then thought Air NZ was the only airline in the world.

When you see tourism going down, why not open up to other carriers to fly in tourists from other regions?

On top of that, the Cook Islands Government already know Air NZ’s fare hike but continues to leave it status quo with Air NZ. Tourists don’t come when fares are high. Other budget airlines can bring tourists over too. Well, who should we blame for this? The Government!

Kimi Nooroa (Facebook)

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Sadly, the island couldn’t currently cope with more visitors due to lack of staff on the island. We visited recently and did far less than we normally do as most places require bookings before you arrive. If they can’t cope with the small numbers arriving now, they certainly won’t cope with opening up to the world.

I love the island and go there regularly and will continue to support the locals but putting extra pressure on them when they don’t have the staff is not going to work.

Meitaki.

Jude Fippard (Facebook)

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Would come back in a heartbeat if the government abandoned their vaccine policy. We would have already booked and rebooked if the mandate was eliminated. Direct flight or not. We certainly would have travelled 16 hours plus to Auckland, and been patient (and happy) waiting for connections. As it stands now, we are on the outside looking in and would have returned months ago.

Instead we have travelled to Hawaii, who eliminated all of their red tape for entry. No vaccine requirement, no testing, etc. Over the last two years we flew to Kauai, Oahu, and Big Island. Two trips spending hard earned cash on VRBO’s, auto, restaurants, outings, etc. Would trade all of that for a return trip to Raro and Aitutaki.

Will strongly consider the once weekly Air Rarotonga flights from Tahiti in the future if and when the government policy is nixed.

Richard Stone (Facebook)

Qantas is flying to Samoa, surely they’d consider flying to Lonely Planet’s top destination of the year (even if Jetstar already does via AKL). What’s the point of being the top destination when it’s not very accessible? Or maybe its isolation gives it that extra something something. It definitely is worth the ‘hassle’ and I’m not being biased.

Mouroa Hosea (Facebook)