Airport operates in 'safe manner'

Queenstown Airport was the busiest combined service airport in New Zealand and because landings and take-offs were "challenging" for pilots, more protections were in place to ensure passenger safety, Queenstown Airport Corporation chief executive Steve Sanderson said yesterday.

He was responding to claims 65 passengers and six crew on a Pacific Blue flight on June 22 were put at risk when the Sydney-bound flight took off outside approved flying times.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is investigating the incident and the airline had stood down the pilot and co-pilot.

Planes must depart no later than 30 minutes before twilight from the airport, which is surrounded by mountains and has no radar or runway lights.

Airline Pilots' Association chief executive Rick Mirkin said yesterday pilots were well trained to operate out of the airport and people should not be alarmed by speculation over the flight under investigation.

Mr Sanderson said it was "fair to say" Queenstown Airport and the terrain surrounding it was "challenging", but it was operated in a "safe manner that's acceptable".

"I think if it was dangerous, aircraft wouldn't come here.

"There is nothing that says Queenstown Airport is a higher risk than any other airport; it's more challenging, therefore we have more protections in place to make sure it's operated in a safe manner.

"We've had no serious incidents - we've never had a fatality or a collision at Queenstown Airport."

Annually, the airport dealt with about 8000 scheduled flights and up to 35,000 movements - a combination of scheduled flights and general aviation, which includes flightseeing operations, heliskiing, helicopter trips, private jets and charter flights.

A "busy day" could mean between 6000 and 7000 movements, Mr Sanderson said.

"We like to claim something and it is the busiest combined airport in the country."

Because of the location of the airport, there were various factors which needed to be managed, he said.

Those included wind shear at the Shotover Delta end of the runway, where the runway end safety area (resa) is under construction; occasional tail winds at both ends of the runway; inclement weather obscuring vision; and frost and snow.

Other limitations at the airport included the lack of runway lights - which were likely to be installed by Airways over summer.

The lights would improve the visibility from the air, particularly for aircraft equipped with Required Navigation Performance (RNP) technology.

RNP enables specially trained pilots to fly to lower altitudes with a more precise route into the airport, helping reduce the impact of bad weather on services, of particular use in Queenstown during winter months.

Of the five scheduled operators - Air New Zealand, Qantas, Pacific Blue, Jetstar and Mt Cook - Air New Zealand, Qantas and Jetstar used the technology, which enables those pilots trained in RNP.

Mr Mirkin said almost every take-off from Queenstown was done visually followed by entry into cloud very shortly thereafter.

"That is absolutely situation normal and what our pilots are trained to do.

There should be no alarm at all about that aspect of it."

The airport was a "demanding environment" and the association would support upgrading the airport to make it suitable for night flights.

"But obviously it's got to be done in a measured and safe way, when you're talking about expanding operations into and out of a very challenging location," he said.

"Until such time that our association is satisfied that the aircraft, the airport and the regulatory environment are all equipped to deal with night operations, it just isn't going to happen."

Experienced pilot Jules Tapper, of Queenstown, said the airport was "safe as houses".

Mr Tapper, who has 50 years' experience in the aviation industry as an active pilot of light aircraft, helicopters, gliders and paragliders, said RNP had made things "considerably safer", but the Pacific Blue incident had been "blown out of proportion by one guy who did something a little bit different".

"I've been flying for 50 years and I don't think it's any more difficult than anywhere else in the world that I've flown."

CAA spokesman Bill Sommer said an investigation into the incident would likely be completed within the next eight weeks.