Qtown to conduct night-time test flights
Queenstown Airport will test its first winter night flights next week with no passengers on board.
An upgrade of the runway and airfield lighting is almost complete, allowing the test flights to take place.
Airways New Zealand, the company that managed the installation of the $1.65 million lights, is now completing the final stages with stringent testing and calibration of the lights.
Airways’ Queenstown chief controller Clayton Lightfoot said the runway lights would be seen at nights next week as engineers undertook their visual inspection of the lights on helicopters.
‘‘Over the past few days they’ve been using a light aircraft to test the lights during the day. But it’s the middle of next week when all of the lights will be turned on after dark for the first time.
‘‘It should be an impressive sight,’’ he said.
Lightfoot said the inspection might look ‘‘a bit unusual’’ as the lights will be turned on and off as needed.
However, the first night flights with passengers on board are about two months away.
Starting from June 24, Jetstar’s Melbourne to Queenstown evening service will be operating daily until August 31.
On July 1, Air New Zealand will start operating its night flights between Queenstown and Auckland from 7am till 9.30pm.
To operate night flights, about 200 lights were installed or repositioned, including a new run- way, taxiway approach light.
The runway was also widened from 30 to 45 metres and resurfaced with an asphalt overlay, at a cost of $18 million, in the past six months.
The runway enhancements and airfield lighting upgrades were key conditions set by New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority and Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority for approving the airport’s evening flight safety case in 2014.
Queenstown Airport Corporation chief executive Mark Edghill said he was delighted with the result and said everyone did a ‘‘fantastic job’’ in delivering the upgrade on time and on budget.
‘‘This is a major milestone for us – the infrastructure upgrades have long-term strategic and operational benefits so it was important to get them right. We now have a more resilient airfield to serve the Queenstown Lakes region in all weathers and the improvements are a critical enabler for after-dark flights in and out of Queenstown,’’ Edghill said.
During the past six months, Queenstown Airport had been coordinating two night-time projects while at the same time ensuring the airfield was safely ready for operations every morning, he said.
Edghill also appreciated the patience and understanding of the community.
‘‘The team was very aware of the impact of overnight works could have on our neighbours and did their utmost to mitigate any issues but operating heavy machinery at night is always a challenge.’’ with apron and