The application has prompted a warning from a rival operator that Queenstown's waterways face "saturation".
Thunder Jet co-director Duncan Storrier made the comment after studying an application from Ecojet Ltd, which is seeking resource consent for jet-boating, water taxis and charters on Lake Wakatipu and the Kawarau and Shotover Rivers.
Lakes Environmental formally received the application yesterday. The proposal is to operate four boats across a network of water taxi drop off and pick up points, including the Remarkables Park retail complex.
The company has already secured two berths and a kiosk at Queenstown Wharf and is backed by partners - Queenstown developer and jet-boat driver Alistair Hey and Christchurch biochemist Nick McMillan.
A former lawyer, Mr Field said his partners would provide jet-boat expertise while he would bring regulatory and safety knowledge.
In January, Thunder Jet overcame an appeal by rival Kawarau Jet to operate, and Mr Storrier said any Thunder Jet opposition to the application would be on grounds of safety, rather than competition.
Mr Storrier, whose company battled through a three-year case with Kawarau Jet, said at some point the waterway would be saturated and could not take more activity.
In response, Mr Field said Thunder Jet would not "have a leg to stand on" if the company tried to object to Ecojet's adventure jet-boat bid on safety grounds. The Kawarau and Shotover Rivers had hosted "numerous operators" so there was "no worries" about the safety aspect.
"That was widely explored in the Thunder Jet-Kawarau Jet appeal and that gives us confidence that safety issues are manageable," Mr Field said.
He said the company was looking at diversity and a "different range of products" that would be more fully revealed pending outcomes of the resource consent process.
Thunder Jet operates one boat, with consents pending for four more, while Kawarau Jet operates eight boats with consent pending for 16 to 20 more.
Shotover Jet, with exclusive rights to the upper Shotover and no overlaps with other companies, has seven boats.
Lakes Environmental will make an assessment to see if effects on people and the environment necessitate publicly notifying the consent.
