KEY POINTS:
Auckland's Westpac Rescue Helicopter may fly in daylight if it can't get a $5 million loan, says the trust that runs the service.
Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust chief executive Rea Wikaira and trustee and broadcaster Paul Holmes yesterday made a submission to the Auckland Regional Council for the $5 million interest-free loan.
The pair are among 354 groups seeking money under the ARC's draft annual plan.
Mr Wikaira said last night the service was not under immediate threat, but trouble was looming.
The service relies on community donations for at least 61 per cent of its funding and this is expected to decrease because of New Zealand's tightening economy.
"The ad hoc funding which has underpinned our survival for years - donations from Mums and Dads, corporate and commercial sponsorship and grants from pokie machine trusts - is shrinking, and costs are going up," Mr Wikaira said .
"Everyone is in that boat, that's just life. But ultimately that will have consequences for us."
An interest-free loan could be seen as the ARC's contribution towards the service "for what it's given in the region for the last 30 years and what it would also give for the next 30 years".
The money would be used for future planning for the service and, eventually, a new helicopter.
Mr Wikaira said an interest-free loan would save the service the $300,000 a year it was spending on the interest on a $2.5 million loan for its present helicopter.
Mr Wikaira said it was hard to say what would be cut because of funding problems, but reducing operations to a daylight service was an option.
ARC chairman Mike Lee said the trust gave an impressive submission and the council would be giving it serious thought.
