Queenstown Airport's new navigational system has signifi-cantly reduced the number of flights being diverted or cancelled during minimal weather conditions.
Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) chief executive Steve Sanderson said yesterday, of the 1495 flights equipped with the Required Navigational Procedure (RNP) system, only 1% had been cancelled or diverted.
In the same 12-month period, ending June 30 this year, 5% of the 2505 non-RNP flights were affected in the same way.
Mr Sanderson expected the divert and cancel rate to continue to fall as airlines equipped more aircraft with the technology.
"The RNP technology is a new paradigm for [the] airport which allows aircraft to manoeuvre safely around the surrounding terrain in all weather condi-tions," he said.
The technology was also "fundamental" to the airport's plans to install runway lights this year for night landings, which would further improve its position as an "end destination" for travellers.
Mr Sanderson said the QAC was "quite confident" runway lights would be installed by the end of the year, which would enable flights to land and depart until 10pm.
"It's not a capital issue or a funding issue.
"It's just that we have to work through the regulatory issues with the CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] . . . hopefully, we'll work through that in the next several months."
While the airport had the ability to land and depart until 10pm, the lack of runway lighting meant under CAA rules, no flights could operate after twilight.
With the RNP technology installed in most Air New Zealand 737s and some Qantas 737s, the addition of runway lighting had the potential to reap huge benefits for the airport and Queenstown as a destination, Mr Sanderson said.
"I think it becomes more of a usable airport for end destination travellers. I think both leisure travellers and business travellers don't want to spend their day time travelling."
Those travelling to Queenstown, both domestically and internationally, generally had to set four days aside - two of those taken up travelling to and from Queenstown.
"I think . . . we'll see new markets out of our current market - if we can get late international flights in.
"I believe there will be new business, as an example, for hoteliers."
Mr Sanderson said late international travellers arriving in Christchurch spent the night in a hotel there before travelling to Queenstown.
If those flights landed later in Queenstown, hotels in the resort would pick up that patronage and the resort's economy would benefit as a result, he said.
Meanwhile, other statistics released by Mr Sanderson showed the drop in disrupted flights resulting from the RNP technology had also contributed to continued growth in passenger numbers over the past 12 months, he said.
The airport broke the "700,000 passenger barrier" for the first time, recording 700,640 passengers moving through.
International passengers grew to 62,276, a 16% increase on last year, supported by a lift of 15% in international flights with a load factor of 78% - an improvement of 1.1 percentage points year on year, Mr Sanderson said.
