Members of the newly-formed Queenstown Community Strategic Assets Group (QCSAG) had no financial interest in Queenstown Airport, group spokesman John Martin said in a "categorical statement" to the Queenstown Times on Friday.
On Thursday the group, comprising former mayors Warren Cooper and John Davies, property developers John Darby and Graham Smolenski, businessman Philip Dunstan, Skyline Enterprises chairman Ken Matthews, Globaleagle managing director Richard Mehrtens, Queenstown Chamber of Commerce chairman Alastair Porter and former Skyline Enterprises chairman Barry Thomas, issued a statement against the sale of any more shares of the airport by the Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) to Auckland International Airport Ltd (AIAL).
On Friday, Mr Martin told the QT there had been "great feedback" on the group's position and there was a lot of support in the community.
However, he denied the group had any financial interests in the airport.
"Let's get this quite clear.
"That is not the case and that needs to be thoroughly dispelled.
"I have no financial interest, and I will not have any financial interest in that airport now or in the future.
"That is a categorical statement."
Mr Martin said he had worked in the community for a "long time", having business interests in the resort since the 1970s.
In 2007, Mr Martin made headlines when he bought three historic cottages on Arrowtown's Buckingham St from Irish developer Eamon Cleary, a day after Mr Cleary had been accused of "wilful neglect" of the properties.
Mr Martin bought the cottages for $1.9 million and promptly sold them back to the QLDC.
"This is about town business," he said of the airport issue.
"I'm very opposed at the particular process [used in the deal], in the way the councillors have been treated.
"No-one has the right to sell shares ... without consulting the shareholder - the community.
"That is not Clive Geddes, it is not the council, it is the community.
"It's an outrageous position - it wasn't for Clive Geddes to accept that or for John S. Wilson to partake in it.
"There's a stack of people out there that think that."
Mr Martin said the group was prepared to fight the deal "as far as it can go" and would "exhaust all avenues".
Among the matters which needed to be taken into consideration was the QLDC district plan; annual plan; QAC's Statement of Intent; the Local Government Act 2002 and QLDC's community consultation strategy (2005).
"I'm pretty focused on this.
"It will be a political process and a legal process.
"Going forward, I think [the current council] should give the opportunity to the new council and the new mayor to decide what to do about this mess.
"Believe me, it is a mess."
