While night flights for Queenstown may be a possibility, there were "significant issues" to overcome first, Air New Zealand airline operations general manager Captain David Morgan said last night.
Speaking at a Queenstown Chamber of Commerce Business After 5 information evening about night flights to Queenstown Airport, Capt Morgan said Air New Zealand had already invested $5.3 million in the resort through its Required Navigational Performance (RNP) technology, allowing flights to land in conditions where they would previously have been diverted or cancelled.
Since RNP was installed last year, 120 flights had been able to land in the resort, which previously would have been diverted.
However, 120 flights "hasn't returned that investment", he said.
"When we heard that Queenstown was considering opening up night operations, we said to ourselves `we've got to understand what this means to us'.
"It's not our [Air New Zealand's] idea - if the opportunity presents itself . . . then we would have to obviously look at it, but it's not something we're pushing."
Air New Zealand had already commissioned a "project" to investigate the safety of operating into Queenstown at night, which had presented some hurdles, Capt Morgan said.
The technological aspects of landing jets in mountainous terrain at night had not yet been proven to a satisfactory standard.
"NZCAA [New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority] have got some real concerns about the risks - we're in the business of defying gravity, it's not an easy thing to do . . . we've got to talk risks, but we've got to understand the risks and mitigate them."
Capt Morgan said that night operations into airports in mountainous terrain were rare.
"We only know of one other airport in the world where this is happening and that's Juneau, the capital of Alaska."
Following a risk assessment, Air New Zealand felt it would need to lower its RNP, which can fly to a cloud base of 396m - prior to RNP the cloud base was 914m - but the Runway End Safety Area (RESA) would also need to be approved and constructed.
A resource consent hearing to determine whether that will happen is expected to conclude today.
Another issue was the width of the runway, which is only 30m where other airports had a 45m-wide runway, he said.
Air New Zealand would also require "some sort of restrictions" over operators using the aircraft after dark.
Further, there were commercial issues, particularly regarding transtasman flights.
Capt Morgan said the Air New Zealand transtasman service averaged out at about 70% load factor, meaning, on average, only 70% of seats on any aircraft were occupied.
Before the night flights were introduced, there was a requirement to know it would be a good business decision to land them.
However, the overall decision was not just one for the Queenstown Airport Corporation, the Queenstown Lakes District Council or the Queenstown community, he said.
"This is a New Zealand Incorporated issue - it's not about Air New Zealand, it's not about the Queenstown Airport. We've got to achieve this in a New Zealand Incorporated way."
Capt Morgan estimated the cost of achieving night flying would be $1.7 million.
"As an airline, we're fully committed to Queenstown . . . we've got a significant commercial stake in the game here."
