Airport News
Queenstown Airport Supports Local Community Service
For the fourth year Queenstown Airport is the principal sponsor of Coastguard Queenstown.
Queenstown Airport today reconfirmed its commitment to supporting the Queenstown Lakes District Community with the renewal of its sponsorship of Queenstown Coastguard.
The sponsorship of $30,000, marks the fourth consecutive year that Queenstown Airport has sponsored this vital community service.
Celebrating the sponsorship renewal today with members of the volunteer organization, Mr Steve Sanderson said “Queenstown Airport is very happy to be involved with this important community service. Our sponsorship is vital contributing to crew training and equipment.
Coastguard Queenstown is a volunteer organization dedicated to providing a full time search and rescue unit on Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding waterways. A fully trained crew is permanently on standby to provide assistance 24hours a day, 365 days a year.”
“It is also important to acknowledge the hard work of the men and women who work for Coastguard. It’s a dedicated group of people who give up their time to help locals and visitors stay safe,” said Mr Sanderson.
In total a team of ten trained crew operate the service, with an additional seven in training. Since July 2010 the crew have undertaken 399 hours of training and been on standby 64,800 hours of service.
The Coastguard responds to Police 111 Emergencies. “Most of the emergencies we attend are boat collisions of some kind,” said Mr Tim Francis, Chairman, Queenstown Coastguard.
“We are a 100% dedicated rescue service here to save lives on the water. It has certainly been proven that this level of service is required as we have responded to 65 calls for assistance of which 41 were Police initiated 111 emergency calls, assisting 125 persons in the past three and half years.
If it was not for the continued support of Queenstown Airport Corporation and Coastguard New Zealand, this volunteer based community service would not exist,” said Mr Francis.
