Floatplane operator planning to set up business in resort
AN Australian floatplane operator is eyeing up Queenstown.
New Zealandborn Sydney Seaplanes owner Aaron Shaw, who formerly owned a Queenstown holiday home, said he was amazed the resort did not have any floatplanes.
Given their ability to access remote areas quickly and comfortably, ‘‘it offers up a huge opportunity for a great tourism product that really should be there in Queenstown’’, he said.
Sydney Seaplanes hit the headlines at New Year when a company DHC2 Beaver plunged into a river north of Sydney, killing the pilot, Gareth Morgan, and his five British passengers — prominent chief executive Richard Cousins (58), his two sons, Edward (23) and William (25), his 48yearold fiancee Emma Bowden and her 11yearold daughter Heather BowdenPage.
The plane had veered wildly offcourse.
Mr Shaw said investigations continued, but no fault was found with the plane.
‘‘It’s looking more and more likely there might have been some incident with the pilot, like a medical issue.
‘‘I think we did everything we could have done, and we always have, to try and avoid that type of situation, but anyone that operates things that move, it could be a bus, a truck, a car, there is always an element of risk.
‘‘We’ve just been issued a new air operator’s certificate for another five years by [Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority], so we have been exonerated as an organisation and a business.’’
Aside from his Sydney Harbour business, his company, as technical consultants, had helped set up about 15 other operations around the world.
‘‘We really are experts at that.’’
Mr Shaw, who last month registered Queenstown Seaplanes Ltd, said he would start planning to operate in the resort soon.
He was undaunted another company, Queenstown Floatplane Services Ltd, had recently applied for resource consent.
‘‘There’s lots of places where there’s more than one operator.’’
The other company was apply ing to operate at least a kilometre from areas like Sunshine Bay and Bob’s Cove, after another operator ran into opposition, for noise reasons, when he tried to set up in Queenstown Bay nine years ago.
Mr Shaw said he wanted to use the bay because it was handy for visitors.
‘‘I’ve owned [Sydney Seaplanes] for 12 years and we’ve done 70,000 flights and in summer 50 to 60 a day, and I’ve never had a complaint about the noise.’’
That was despite operating in Rose Bay, ‘‘in the heart of probably the wealthiest [residential] area of the southern hemisphere’’.
However, he would run a Cessna Caravan because of its ‘‘quieter’’ turboprop engine.