Corporate jet parks at Wanaka

Photo by Mark Price.
Photo by Mark Price.

Wanaka Airport's first resident corporate jet has taken up a prime position on the airport apron.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council-owned airport has often been suggested as a parking area for Queenstown Airport's corporate jet overflow.

The jet at Wanaka, a $20 million-plus Bombardier Challenger 300, is understood to be owned by Queenstown businessman Sir John Davies, has been in the district for several weeks and has been parked at Wanaka since late last week.

Sir John declined to confirm ownership of the jet this week.

One of Sir John's family companies, Southern Flight Holdings, has applied for resource consent to build a hangar in Lloyd Dunn Ave at Wanaka Airport.

The application is on hold awaiting affected parties' approval.

Sir John, who received a knighthood in 2013 for services to business and tourism, owns the Coronet Peak, Remarkables and Mt Hutt skifields, Routeburn and Milford guided walks and the Hermitage Hotel, at Mt Cook.

He is a former mayor of Queenstown and was closely involved with the development of Queenstown Airport.

The "super-mid-sized'' Bombardier Challenger seats eight or nine passengers, has a range of almost 6000km and a top speed of 891kmh.

It arrived in Queenstown in April, having previously been based in the United States, and a commercial aviation website has reported it in Wanaka, Queenstown, Sydney and Nadi, Fiji, this month.

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