Battle of the skies taking off

Jetstar hopes to lose its reputation for unreliability with the introduction of a new navigation system. Photo / Supplied

Competition is set to hot up on the ski trail this winter as Jetstar introduces its long-awaited new navigation system on its flights to Queenstown.

Required navigational performance, or RNP, allows for greater reliability when landing and taking off amid Queenstown's formidable mountainous terrain.

Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan says RNP will reduce the chance of being diverted due to bad weather from about 12 per cent to less than 1 per cent. In its first winter of operation, Jetstar was forced to divert to Dunedin around a dozen times, he said.

Its domestic rival Air New Zealand has operated using RNP for the past three years, leaving Jetstar with a reputation for unreliability into the resort town.

But from this month Jetstar's A320s will also operate using the new system, which leverages off GPS technology.

Having the system gave the airline the confidence to grow its services, and Queenstown was a destination with huge potential, Buchanan said.

"Queenstown would be one of those critical destinations [in Asia/Pacific] that you'd put in as one of the top five in the region in terms of prospects."

Nick Findlay, Jetstar's RNP project pilot, said Queenstown was challenging because of its high terrain. It was not possible to use traditional instrument landing systems to enable aircraft to fly to a lower level on approach.

Aircraft flying into Christchurch or Auckland could get down to 200ft using autopilot, but in Queenstown currently the lowest they could go was around 2700ft.

RNP allowed the pilot to get down to 1100ft without having to become visual, and it was hoped this could be further improved.

"I guess the big benefit is not just the ability to fly down to a lower cloud base, but it is a safer way to conduct business," he said.

"Flying an approach where you can keep the autopilot engaged down to the minima and the pilot monitoring the aircraft's performance is a much safer way to operate than the traditional means."

There were also cost savings in using RNP, and Jetstar was rolling it out across its fleet. Buchanan said the total project would cost $10 million.

Bruce Parton, Air New Zealand's group general manager short-haul airline, said it was the first airline in the world to have an entire A320 fleet RNP-enabled.

Air New Zealand uses RNP at Queenstown, Rotorua, Port Vila, Brisbane and Gold Coast airports.

"Because of its high precision, RNP also reduces noise emissions and can significantly reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by using shorter, curved approaches to airports," he said.

Destination Queenstown chief executive Tony Everitt said while Jetstar did not fly direct from Australia, where a third of ski tourists come from, any increase in accessibility to the resort was welcome.

New Zealand skifields had their best season last year with 1.5 million visitors, up from 1.4 million in 2008.