Trees force Air NZ to cut seats

Air New Zealand is being forced to cut passenger numbers on its new international service into Rotorua, because a landowner refuses to cut trees on his property.

The newly-extended Rotorua Airport welcomes its first international flight, an Air NZ Airbus 320 from Sydney, on December 12.

However, trees on the property of Geoff Fischer about 1km away stand in defiance of Civil Aviation Authority regulations requiring airport operators to protect the flightpaths of landing and taking-off aircraft, the Dominion Post reported today.

Unless the trees are trimmed, the number of passengers on the landing A320s will be cut, from 152 to 126.

The Environment Court recently ruled Rotorua District Council-owned airport operator could not prune Mr Fischer's trees, after breaching an earlier court ruling on the retired man's foliage.

In 2000, the company trimmed seven metres from one of Mr Fischer's fir trees - about four metres more than the court ruled they could.

Rotorua mayor Kevin Winters said airport authorities "absolutely, very seriously" wanted to make a deal with Mr Fischer, ahead of the arrival of a delegation of dignitaries from Sydney ion the first flight.

Mr Fischer had hardened his attitude towards the airport company after it over-pruned his trees nine years ago, he said.

He wanted compensation for 10 trimmed trees, including two firs, an oak, a kauri, a walnut tree and a eucalyptus.

The airport company predicted numbers of Australians visiting Rotorua would be up to nearly quarter of a million by the end of 2014.

- NZPA