‘Unfair’: Proposed new fire and emergency levies could lead to higher airfares, aviation sector says

A new proposal to introduce fire and emergency levies on domestic aircraft would be “a major blow” to the aviation industry at a challenging time and likely lead to higher airfares and reduced services, the Aviation Industry Association (AIANZ) says. Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) has proposed levying all domestic aircraft operating in New Zealand at 11.5 cents per NZ$100 insured with an unlimited cap. This means an aircraft valued at about $10m would pay about $11,500 and a jet plane potentially more than $100,000, AIANZ said. Rescue helicopters would pay about $9000. The association said the FENZ proposal, for which public consultation closed on May 17, came as a complete surprise. The association said it was “disappointing” that the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), which oversees FENZ, did not consult with the industry before a document on the proposal was publicly released. AIANZ CE Simon Wallace said the proposal could be the death knell for some operators, and that costs would have to be passed onto travellers. Wallace said the association, which represents most of New Zealand’s 300 commercial aviation operators, does not believe domestic aircraft use FENZ services enough to justify the levies. “Domestic aircraft have always been an exemption to FENZ levies because of the negligible use of their services. In the past year, call-outs by FENZ to aviation incidents represented just 0.045% of all incidents.” Wallace said the proposal represented a “double whammy” to domestic aircraft operators who are already paying for fire and emergency services through landing charges imposed by airports. Many are just emerging from difficult post-Covid tradition conditions, he said.<br/>