The Queenstown company, founded 34 years ago, has worked closely with the Making Trax Foundation to ensure anyone wanting to fly to Milford Sound can easily do so.
Making Trax, a consultancy service for businesses in the sports and tourism industries, was founded by Jezza Williams, himself a wheelchair user, to ensure people with different abilities can enjoy experiences the same as anyone else.
Williams says steps to get on and off small aircraft are steep, which — till now — has made it impossible for people with mobility issues to get in and out of the planes.
Working with Air Milford, Williams helped develop a new staircase, which isn’t as steep, so passengers only need someone to help get them on and off the plane.
While motorised wheelchairs can’t use the stairs, any other wheelchair, provided it’s collapsible, can.
"The staircase opens up a world of opportunity for people facing mobility issues," Williams says.
"Previously the journey to Milford Sound was out of reach for many, due to the long drive being difficult."
Air Milford ops manager and chief pilot Antony Sproull says he’s been wanting to create more diverse access to Milford for a long time, and the new stairs are a huge step in the right direction.
He notes people wanting to use the stairs can come and try them out in Queenstown the day before they’re scheduled to fly, to ensure they can get up and down them.
"Although we have made it easier to enable wheelchair access, it is still a staircase, so there are still requirements to meet."
The staircase has been specifically designed for the Cessna Caravan aircraft which Air Milford and all other flightseeing planes in the region use — and the development’s been assisted by six other operators.
Given the benefits to accessible tourism, Southern Discoveries, Pure Milford NZ, RealNZ, Glenorchy Air, True South Flights and Milford Sound Scenic flights all financially contributed towards the staircase development — and one staircase based in Milford is already becoming an asset to other flightseeing and cruise operators.
Williams: "The stairs aren’t just for people that our imagination flows to when you think about accessibility and people with a severe disability.
"It’s huge — it’s the elderly, people with anxiety, people with vision impairment, people that may be a little bit on the spectrum, somebody that’s [been] injured for a while.
"We’re talking about millions and millions of people.
"And people won’t come to New Zealand unless we make it a welcoming environment, and that’s really the goal ... especially in the Queenstown region."
