Air New Zealand's Greg Foran on refunds: 'We're not trying to be difficult'

Air NZ boss Greg Foran maintains the airline wouldn't be operating if it had refunded everyone who had flights cancelled but says he welcomes a review of law covering refunds. The airline is under renewed pressure over hundreds of millions of dollars of customers' money it is holding, with Consumer NZ saying it needs to review its hardline policy on refunds. While other airlines have refunded all ticket types if passengers want their money back, Air New Zealand is sticking to its policy of refusing to repay non-refundable tickets except in special circumstances, even though prospects of flying overseas soon remain dim. This could mean the airline has use of the money for years. Foran says the airline wasn't trying to be difficult and was in the process of building more flexibility into dates from credits, which in most cases it offers in lieu of refunds. "As I've been saying during the year, course I'd love to refund everyone, but if I refunded everyone then what were we going to do in terms of keeping the airline operating? It's not Air New Zealand trying to be difficult, it's not Air New Zealand hiding behind anything."<br/>