NZAAL co-director Celroy Mascarenhas rejected the claims made at a recent Waitaki District Council public forum and defended his pilot training school based at the North Otago airport.
NZAAL was ranked one of New Zealand’s leading pilot training schools and international student numbers had risen from 92 in January 2024 to 210 this month, Mr Mascarenhas said.
Pilot and airport land leaseholder Simon Laming used the council’s public forum to criticise council’s financial management of its asset, suggesting that it only charged an average landing fee of $1 despite a cost of $7.40 per aircraft movement.
Mr Laming said the airport and its runways were deteriorating and the council had not taken steps to improve the financial performance of the council asset.
North Otago Aero Club president Hayden Williams also spoke at the forum saying safety at the airport was an issue with increased air traffic and the presence of ‘‘stones and rocks’’ near the airfield creating hazards for aircraft.
‘‘You’ve got one person saying that we’re paying a $1 landing fee, which is just utterly false and you’ve got another person also speaking to the council and raising safety concerns and safety issues that are non-existent,’’ Mr Mascarenhas told the Oamaru Mail.
‘‘We’re not paying $1 a landing, it’s significantly higher than that. We are bound by a lease agreement which has a confidentiality clause from the council but our invoice last month was $14,000 and the one before that was about $15,000,’’ he said.
Mr Mascarenhas said NZAAL was Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) certified, having undergone multiple audits by the aviation regulation body.
‘‘Our new head of safety that has joined the team has worked with the CAA for 12 years. If this person had safety concerns, we would know what those concerns are,’’ Mr Mascarenhas said.
There were 85,785 movements at the airport last year.
Mr Mascarenhas said NZAAL had not been ‘‘formally approached’’ with any concerns for safety at the aerodrome in the seven years they had been at the airport.
He was ‘‘disappointed’’ with the issues being raised at a public forum without a right of response.
‘‘They [the council] don’t understand the technical basis of what he’s saying - it’s just scaremongering,’’ Mr Mascarenhas said.
He was disappointed none of the council staff rejected the claims at the public forum.
Council governance adviser Arlene Goss said council staff were not permitted to speak during public forums unless the mayor called on a staff member to respond.
Oamaru Airport manager Matt Sisson told the Oamaru Mail the ‘‘quoted amounts’’ in the public forum were inaccurate.
Mr Sisson said the council would not disclose values due to commercial sensitivity but confirmed that NZAAL’s total ‘‘chargeable movements’’ in January this year were 4602.
Mr Sisson said the aerodrome maintained a risk register and the ‘‘wear and tear of the grass surfaces’’ used by aircraft ‘‘had been acknowledged and was listed’’.
‘‘Oamaru Airport has the largest number of movements nationwide for grass surfaces.
Mitigations are being investigated, such as the irrigation of the grass movement areas and runways and alternating the use of the active runway to reduce fatigue of the surface,’’ he said.
Since 2024, there had been a standing item on the hazard register that identifies foreign object debris, including stones, as a risk to operations, Mr Sisson said.
Mr Sisson said stones were being dragged on to sealed taxiways and runways by aircraft not departing the sealed areas correctly and an operational safety notice had been issued to address that.
The issues were often discussed at ‘‘user group safety meetings’’ to find collaborative solutions.
While there had been ‘‘constructive discussions’’ with NZAAL about how the airport and pilot training school could work together to manage the issue, the first official incident report where stones had the potential to contribute to any damage was in February this year, Mr Sisson said.
‘‘We’ve instigated alternating the closure of each grass runway to recover, and have met with local industry experts regarding the grass types and options to handle the heavy usage.’’
Mr Sisson said cost-effective solutions were also being researched to install a ‘‘more permanent surface in the affected areas to further control the issue’’.
