Regional Round-Up
AirNZ bans shark fin cargo
June 1st 2013
Air New Zealand (AirNZ) has joined industry leader, Cathay Pacific Airways, with an announcement it will no longer accept shark fin for air cargo shipments. Read More »
Media reports have said AirNZ was put under pressure to revise its policy on transporting shark fins after environmental activists revealed the airline had transported two shipments in the last eight months.
Another South Pacific carrier, Air Pacific (to be renamed Fiji Airways next month), was identified by the New Zealand Shark Fin Alliance as an air cargo shipper of shark fins from Fiji to Hong Kong.
Said an AirNZ spokesman: “We have taken the decision to suspend immediately the carriage of shark fins while we undertake a review of the issue.”
In its defence, the Auckland-based carrier said the shark fin flown to Hong Kong since October was a by-product and not obtained by finning, in which fins are sliced off and the sharks are left to die. Cathay Pacific halted all shipments last September.
