Two new quarantine inspectors will start work at the Queenstown Airport in mid-August as part of a national drive to enhance biosecurity.
Nationally, 30 new quarantine inspectors will start work and four new detector dog puppies will be trained - although no dogs are confirmed for Queenstown.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said the 30 inspectors were in addition to 56 extra frontline staff recruited nationally over the past six months. A Ministry of Primary Industries spokesman said there were no definite plans to have a permanent sniffer dog based at Queenstown Airport.
This is despite the Queenstown airport being described as the fastest growing in Australasia.
The spokesman said a sniffer dog occasionally came across from Dunedin and there was ''ongoing'' consideration as to whether to have a permanent dog.
In February, councillors at the Queenstown Lakes District Council finance and corporate committee meeting had heard Queenstown Airport could be the fastest-growing airport in Australasia and ''certainly the fastest-growing New Zealand airport''.
