While not willing to talk about waiting times in the past, Wanaka police SAR co-ordinator Senior Constable Mike Johnston was pleased at the suggested "timeframes" provided by operator Richard Hayes.
Mr Hayes, of Te Anau, is due to take over the Lakes District Air Rescue Trust contract to provide helicopters for rescue and emergency work from the start of next year - through his Heliworks Queenstown [2012] and Southern Lakes Helicopters companies.
Mr Hayes told the Otago Daily Times that under the new "semi-dedicated" arrangement, helicopter crews would be expected to be airborne within 20 minutes during the day and 40 minutes at night.
Snr Const Johnston said although helicopter rescue services had made some "big leaps forward" in the past few years, there had been "concerns at times" about how long it took to get a rescue helicopter, with a St John paramedic on board, from Queenstown to Wanaka to pick up search and rescue personnel.
"If that time-frame can be reduced, which the guys at Heliworks are saying they can do ... then that's going to be great for us. It's going to be good for everybody."
Snr Const Johnston believed in many ways it would be "business as usual" for Wanaka search and rescue personnel but there would be benefits dealing with just one operator.
"It will develop some teamwork and familiarity, and confidence would be had from that I would think."
He said Mr Hayes was well known to Wanaka search teams.
"It's not like someone's come in that we don't know.
"Like everything, the proof will be in the pudding but we can't see any issues at this stage and it is business as usual for us."
