Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

Congratulations to Jetstar. The airline is asking for regions to put their best pitch forward to attract their service – a low-cost subsidiary of Qantas – to fly in and out of NZ's regional airports.

It caused a fight on social media between regions such as Hawke's Bay, Manawatu and Taranaki to show Jetstar which airport has the most support.

The battle not only provides free advertising for the airline, but it's also building expectations amongst residents. Locals may feel like their city has failed if Jetstar doesn't choose them. The councils may feel pressure to consider subsidising Jetstar's services to secure the airline and please their residents. It's a clever tactic by Jetstar.

Tauranga submitted a proposal to catch Jetstar's eye. Our continued population, business and tourism growth speaks for itself. Our airport fees are already low compared to the other airports Jetstar is looking at. And more people are choosing to fly to Auckland as driving is becoming less favourable due to traffic.

Best of all, I believe Tauranga is a smart, sustainable, long-term option for both Air New Zealand and Jetstar. If other regions want to subsidise airport fees, then good on them. But their future councils can take those subsidies away.

If Tauranga misses out on Jetstar's first round – whether because other councils are subsiding airport fees, or Jetstar focuses on the Rotorua-Queenstown-Australia tourist route – then I'm confident Tauranga will be considered again in the near future.

Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 027 6989 548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice.