Tourists flying to Milford Sound will be hit with a $15-to-$20 increase on air tickets this summer, as scenic flight operators are forced to pass on rising charges from the Government.
The Ministry of Transport wants to recover the $462,024 it spent on resealing Milford Airport's runway, taxiway and aircraft parking apron, by increasing landing fees for fixed-wing aircraft by 123% and for helicopters by 215%.
The operator of a five-seat plane lands one to four or five times a day, depending on the season and weather, and now pays $13.26 per landing. However, the operator will have to pay $29.57 per landing from July 1.
A 12-seat plane now pays $25.50, but will pay have to pay $56.87 from July 1.
Helicopters land two or three times per day and operators pay either $5.10 or $8.16, depending on the size of the aircraft. However, the fees will rise to $16.07 and $18.20 per landing from July 1.
Commercial operators are also bracing themselves for a GST increase from 12.5% to 15%, which will put an extra $10 on each flight to Milford, Air Milford owner and Queenstown Milford Users Group chairman Hank Sproull said.
Operators had to pay the increased fees and had to pass on the costs to customers, he said.
Tourist demand at the upper end of the Milford scenic-flight market would probably stay the same, despite the ticket price hikes, "but there's a lot on the borderline who may take the five-hour each way bus trip from Queenstown".
Users group members "reluctantly accepted" the increased charges at a meeting with ministry representatives on May 27. There was no alternative, Mr Sproull said.
Totally Tourism managing director Mark Quickfall said the two extra costs were "not helpful", but he did not believe increasing ticket prices would deter tourists.
The ministry had consulted operators and it expected a return on the aerodrome improvement, he said.
Peter Daniell, Wakatipu Aero Club chairman and Air Wakatipu chief executive, said the commercial side of the business already expected to increase its flight-cruise-flight tickets by $5 to $10 per passenger, due to volatile fuel costs and GST. New landing fees would add extra cost and revised summer prices would be finalised in the next two months, he said.
Mr Daniell said summer tourists would probably not realise prices were up on the year before. Scenic flights appealed mainly to mature long-distance visitors, who would not let $425 get in the way of experiencing Milford Sound, he said.
The 75 club members would be charged more to land at Milford, but only a handful had passed the pilot rating and could fly to the technically challenging aerodrome, he said.
A ministry spokeswoman said the users group accepted the proposed increases at the meeting on May 27.
"The ministry had the proposals reviewed by a consultant who considered the methodology and the calculations were reasonable in supporting the proposed landing charge rates."
The ministry completed the year-long resealing of all manoeuvring areas, as well as improvements to drainage, creation of six permanent helipads and improvements to the aerodrome paths and fences, in February. It was the first resealing work carried out on the runway since 1986.
