Queenstown Airport - Incidents

Incidents

On 22 June 2010, a late-running Pacific Blue flight to Sydney took off from Queenstown. At the time, the airport had no runway lights, and the airline mandated a departure curfew of 30 minutes before evening civil twilight, allowing enough time for the aircraft to return to the airport in case of an emergency. The Boeing 737-800 took off on a departure requiring a visual segment, after curfew, and in poor weather. Passengers described a distressing takeoff procedure, with the aircraft flying very low above Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountain terrain. The take off was deemed an endangerment to the safety of the 70 passengers and crew aboard by the Civil Aviation Authority. Both pilots were suspended over the incident, and in April 2011, the flight's captain was charged under the Civil Aviation Act with unnecessary endangerment. This charge was later reduced to one of a careless use of an aircraft, with a maximum fine of NZ$7,000. In March 2012, the pilot's case was heard in the Queenstown District Court and a verdict is yet to be reached.

There was also another mid-air incident shortly afterwards between Qantas and Virgin B737s which resulted in a critical report from NZ's Transport Accident Investigation Commission, which called for a virtually complete review of Queenstown's entire air traffic management system -- which is now gradually being implemented.