Personally, I don't see it as being a positive move - certainly for the airline "stepping onboard new zealand" is a great selling point for those 30% you mention. I love feeling like I'm back on Ponsonby Rd or Cuba Mall when I get onboard in London or Tokyo or Singapore.. and I think the cabin crew are a big part of building that feeling.

Saying that, it can sometimes feel like being on a scottish airline with the LHR-based crew - I know the ISDs (what are they called now?) are usually kiwis, but some days they can be the only non-flight crew from downunder.

Of course, its gotta be a good thing to have more mandarin speakers onboard - even out of SIN or HKG I've seen some crew becoming frustrated by cultural differences or the language barrier even to the point of rudeness (this is pretty rare though) to some chinese passengers.. so a little bit more diversity can't hurt.

So, how about a mix of crew from AKL and PVG? It seems to work for QF having the kiwis mixed with the SYD crews, do the QF Bangkok crews work as well side-by-side?