Review of concession for Regular Operator aircraft landings at Milford Sound Aerodrome

Previous concessions have expired

Aircraft landings on public conservation land and waters require a concession issued by DOC. Concessions for landings by Regular Operators (commercial operators who undertake more than 10 landings/year) at the Milford Sound Aerodrome have expired.

Review process

DOC is taking steps to “carry out other actions that may encourage specific applications” pursuant to 17ZG(2)(a) of the Conservation Act 1987.

These actions include working with Ngāi Tahu and consulting with the existing aircraft operators at Milford Sound/Piopiotahi, the Southland Conservation Board, the Ministry of Transport and Airways. We aim to make sure we consider future landing concessions in a fair and consistent way.

How current operations are affected

Temporary restrictions on new applications for regular landings

Our work to carry out these actions means no new applications for more than 10 landings a year at this location can be considered unless your application is consistent with our work. Applications for 10 landings per annum or less, such as an ‘Irregular Operator’ landing permit or a ‘one-off’ landing permit are unaffected by this decision.

Landing allocations for concessions

We have developed a draft model to allocate the limited supply of landings made available by the 2007 Fiordland National Park Management Plan for any new concessions that are granted.

We are currently seeking feedback from Ngāi Tahu, those who have expressed an interest in being a ‘Regular Operator’, the Southland Conservation Board, the Ministry of Transport and Airways. No final decisions on how aircraft landings will be allocated has yet been made.

Irregular and one-off permits

‘Irregular Operators’ (those who undertake no more than 10 landings/year) and one-off permits to land at the aerodrome are not affected by this work.

Expression of interest

An expression of interest was run in April and May 2024 Expression of interest (EOI) aircraft landings: Have your say

We received 34 eligible expressions of interest to become Regular Operators. 26 of these are incumbent Regular Operators and 8 seek to become Regular Operators.

What happens next

Feedback about our draft allocation model will inform the final model. The final model will form a part of any new concessions granted under Part3B of the Conservation Act

Feedback updates

Feedback received about the draft allocation model will be provided here.

1 November 2024 

• That the physical parking and movement of aircraft at the aerodrome has become problematic at times and requires consideration in the allocation model.
• Support for a ‘use it or lose it’ allocation.
• That the proposal for pre-paying of landings from a reserve landing pool is a new concept.
• That the 5-year period proposed for averaging out actual use will not be a fair reflection of some businesses history.
• Does DOC have good records for determining actual use in a year per operator? MOT data will be helpful.
• That more landings would have been undertaken had there been knowledge that allocation would be based on actual use

Contact

If you have a question regarding this process email John Roberts at jroberts@doc.govt.nz.