airly: Private jets avoiding Auckland Airport due to fuel shortage
20-Sep-2017 New Zealand is being bypassed by wealthy private jet owners on flights between Australia and the United States due to the ongoing fuel crisis at Auckland Airport.
Rob Leach, founder of Air Centre One states that this fuel crisis is putting New Zealand's international reputation at risk. Air Centre One provides ground services to hundreds of private aircraft every year and stated yesterday that three aircraft headed for the United States re routed routed via the Pacific Islands to refuel rather than the typical Auckland. This re routing has an economic impact too with New Zealand missing out on the high spending by those on board.
Over the past year 350 jets have passed through Auckland Airport with Leach advising clients to arrive with enough fuel on board to fly to another airport in New Zealand. "If they were coming from the United States to New Zealand they do not have a lot of gas left, enough to get to Wellington or Christchurch but if they came in the middle of the night they couldn't land in Wellington because of a curfew."
This comes after Tourism New Zealand began targeting super wealthy jet setters but the fear is the fuel shortage will begin to have negative impacts on the campaign.