Private jet firm wins case against wealthy businessman

The number of multi-millionaires in New Zealand is approaching double what it was 10 years ago, a new report has found. Photo / 123RF

Owning a private jet in New Zealand is not all smooth flying. There can be more travails than you might think - like trying to land in sleepy Manawatu town Feilding.

For wealthy Kiwi businessman Douglas Catley, it was his inability to fly from Wellington to Feilding, which triggered a chain of events ending with New Zealand's High Court on Monday ruling against him.

Catley had in February 2015 hoped to take his Cessna Citation III on a cruise to the small Manawatu town, better known for its clock tower than as a hub for jetsetting businessmen.

However, the company he paid to provide the pilots to fly the aircraft not only advised him Feilding's runway was unsuitable for his aircraft, but that there were no pilots available on short notice.

Catley, the director of Healthcare of New Zealand, subsequently terminated his contract with Corporate Flight Services and stopped paying them for their services.

CFS sued him for damages.

While an earlier District Court ruled in Catley's favour, Justice Rebecca Ellis in an appeal to the High Court on Monday instead found Catley had not adequately terminated his contract with CFS.

She said it was clear CFS had breached its contract with Catley.

This was because the businessman had in 2012 entered a three-year contract with CFS, paying the company $24,150 per month to maintain his private jet and keep two pilots constantly at the ready to fly him wherever he wanted on short notice.

He also spent $60,000 sending three CFS pilots to the US for training on his aircraft because no one in New Zealand was at the time qualified to fly it.

However, by February 2015, two of the three pilots trained on Catley's aircraft had left CFS.

The company instead hired a busy pilot based out of Sydney to step in as the second pilot on Catley's Cessna.

On the day Catley requested to fly to Feilding, the Sydney pilot was not able to be on site fast enough to fly the jet in what was a breach of Mr Catley's contract.

But Justice Ellis ruled in CFS's favour because she said Catley had not given the company enough opportunity to remedy their breach.