Glenorchy Air is a family-owned and operated scenic flight company based at Queenstown Airport on the stunning South Island of New Zealand. Cook and beyond.
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Experience awe-inspiring, personalised flights to Milford Sound, Mt. Glenorchy Air operates stunning scenic flights throughout Mt. Aspiring, Mt. Cook and Fiordland National Parks. Join us today and soar over the magnificent Southern Alps. We offer a range of activities, from kayaking through Milford Sound, skiing on the Tasman Glacier and taking a sunrise flight over the Earnslaw Glacier. Come and Discover Our Backyard.
Excited to announce our Managing Director and the Owner of the business James Stokes is a finalist for the:
TIA Emerging Tourism Leader Award 2024.
James took over the business a little over 5 years ago. We always say he is a man that wears many different hats, Managing Director, Training Captain, Pilot, Sales, Driver to name a but a few.. 💪🏼
Well done James, a very proud company is cheering you on.
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We are thrilled to announce that our Managing Director, James Stokes, has been nominated for the prestigious YoungTEC Emerging Leader Award.
Read all about this award, James' aviation journey and the other finalists in our blog.
The winner will be announced at the TECNZ Conference Awards evening on Wednesday 7 August 2024.
We are thrilled to announce that our Managing Director, James Stokes, has been nominated for the prestigious YoungTEC Emerging Leader Award.
🏆 We are thrilled to announce that Glenorchy Air has received Tripadvisor’s highest accolade, the Traveller’s Choice Best of the Best Award for 2024! This prestigious honour places us in the top 1% of global adventures and we couldn’t be more proud. 🎉
Glenorchy Air has earned Tripadvisor's highest accolade, celebrating our place in the Top 1% of global adventures!
EXCITING NEWS... 🛩️🛩️
We're adding a second Kodiak 100 to Fleet
Queenstown, NZ:
The 2022 Daher Kodiak 100 Series III, manufactured in Sandpoint, Idaho, USA, will join our existing fleet, which along with our series II Kodiak, includes two Cessna Grand Caravan EX's and GippsAero GA8 increasing our turbine fleet to 4!
🎉🎉🎉🎉
Our pilot Michael landing the our newest aircraft in Milford Sound! This is why we fly! 🛩️
Have you seen the headlines...
Aotearoa | New Zealand’s favourite election is back, and the stakes are higher than ever before. Our brand ambassador, the curious Kea has some outrageous competition with US comedian, John Oliver launching a global campaign for the Pūteketeke.
We've teamed up with The Breeze NZ to take the Kea under our wing in the Forest & Bird, Bird of the Century campaign!
Vote for the Kea - they're funnier than John Oliver.. plus you'll go into the draw to win an EPIC trip to Queenstown.
Voting closes on Sunday 🗳️
Vote Kea for Bird Of The Century.
We officially welcomed our new fleet addition, ZK-KDK, to our base at Queenstown Airport. The celebration included a water salute, courtesy of Queenstown Airport's fire rescue team!
The Otago Daily Times wrote all about it and interviewed our Managing Director James Stokes and Queenstown Airport's Chief Operating Officer Todd Grace in a great video.
Read our latest blog post, including the article and video 😀
Read the latest Otago Daily Times article, including video, welcoming ZK-KDK to our fleet, complete with a water arch at Queenstown Airport.
When people ask
What's it like to be a part of the Queenstown Airport community?
Well, it's often just easier to show people...
Queenstown Airport's emergency service team performed a water salute today to welcome the latest addition to Glenorchy Air's fleet – a 2020 Daher Kodiak 100 turboprop. The aircraft can carry nine passengers, all with window seats, and will be used for scenic flights to Milford Sound, Mt Cook and Stewart Island. Its engine can run on sustainable aviation fuel.
Thanks to the team Performance Aviation Australia & New Zealand for getting this beautiful machine its certificate of airworthiness.
The machine will soon be added to our ops spec and begin flying our wonderful passengers around the lower South Island!
Our most popular adventure, elevated.
Join us on our newest offering, with personalised scenic flights between Queenstown and Milford Sound, exclusive access to the VIP area on the Southern Discoveries cruise, and including a luxury food and drinks package.
Find out more information below 💫
Our most popular experience, elevated. Includes a roundtrip private scenic charter flight and shared cruise through Milford Sound.
Are you planning on walking the Milford track? This could be the icing on the cake at the end of your adventure. Join a scenic flight with us from Milford Sound to Queenstown and experience stunning aerial views of the surrounding landscapes.
https://www.glenorchyair.co.nz/destinations/milford-sound-glaciers/milford-sound-one-way-flight-2/
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📸: Laurie Winter Photography
💫 Calling all Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago Locals 💫
Join us on the ultimate bucket list-worthy day trip to Stewart Island with 30% OFF!
Check out all you need to know here 👇
*T&Cs Apply
Our way of saying 'thank you' to our locals is with discounted adventures for the community that helps us thrive.
Our first community planting event 🌱
The Glenorchy Air Ground Ops team had an absolute blast planting native plants at Lake Hayes with other Queenstown tourism operators.
Thanks to Love Queenstown for bringing this initiative to the tourism sector in collaboration with Mana Tāhuna and Wakatipu Reforestation Trust 🍃
📸 EngagedMedia
And just like that the school holidays come to an end...
We've loved sharing special moments with families of all ages over the last 2 weeks.
Thanks for bringing your little ones on a big adventure with us ❤️
📸: Ryan Domenico Photography
The braided Dart River | Te Awa Whakatipu flows for 60km from the Southern Alps and the Dart Glacier in the heart of Mt. Aspiring National Park, until it reaches the northern tip of Lake Whakatipu near Glenorchy.
Harrison Candlin Photographer
Meghan Maloney Photography
Glenorchy Air Pilots are flying pink this month 💖
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Fly Pink NZ raises funds to donate to Breast Cancer Foundation NZ
You'll see our pilots proudly supporting this important cause with their pink epaulettes 💕
With longer days and warmer weather upon us we're ready to take you on some epic adventures around the lower South island.
📍Aoraki | Mt. Cook
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📍Aoraki | Mt. Cook
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📍Piopiotahi | Milford Sound
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📍Rakiura | Stewart Island
Summer is approaching...
WHAT'S YOUR VIBE???
⛰️🏔️ 🏖️
Tell us below 👇👇👇
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Calling all
Where in the world is KDK?
After a few weeks in the paint shop N282KQ (soon to be ZK-KDK) has transformed into a Glenorchy Air red tail and has departed Santa Maria.
She'll be taking in the sights across the South Pacific and her route to NZ is:
Merced - Hilo, Hawaii - Kiritimati (Christmas) Island - Apia, Samoa - Auckland.
We want your help! Take plenty of snaps, share and tag us as and when you see her.
Follow our stories for more info and you'll find the flight track in our bio to see where she is at!
ZK-KDK starting to look like part of the Glenorchy Air fleet ✈
Our Cessna Grand Caravan 208B EX's are the largest aircraft in our fleet with 13 passenger seats and a wingspan of just over 52ft (15.9 m).
Fun fact: If you were to line up five Cessnas side by side, their wingspans would still be shorter than the words largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380 😳
Are you a window or an aisle kinda person?
Because with us.. every seat is both!!
🌈 We had such an awesome time at Winter Pride lunch with our IT legends .brains…. Safe to say it was fabulous and we learnt a lot 🌈
Did you know Queenstown festival in the largest Pride festival in the Southern Hemisphere 🏳️🌈
It's kind of impossible to put into words the emotions of flying above the Southern Alps and hiking on New Zealand's largest glacier...
Claire McAdams does a pretty epic job of documenting her experience with us.
Check it out 👇
60 seconds · Clipped by Glenorchy Air · Original video "EPIC Scenic Flights & Glacier Landing in New Zealand" by ClaireTrips
Are you heading to Queenstown this Winter?
The Glenorchy Air Team are always happy to share our top recommendations for best eats, adrenaline-packed adventures, and more!
Here is our top 5 must-do’s in New Zealand’s Adventure Capital ❄️
Southern Discoveries
Snow Farm NZ
Perky's Bar
Driftaway Queenstown
It can be hard to narrow down the list of must-do's in Queenstown. We've listed our top 5 things to do in Queenstown this winter.
Fiordland's finest waterfall?
One of the incredible highlights on our Milford Sound flights.
This glacial lake, or tarn is set in an alpine basin 979 metres above sea level. Can you name it?
📸: Unique Visuals Ltd
LOVE QUEENSTOWN 🧡
Tourism has the capacity to be a powerful force for change, but it requires a bold and considered impact.
Love Queenstown is an invitation to come together as an industry, to leave a legacy we can be proud of and to protect this place, now and for generations to come.
Glenorchy Air is committed to preserving the natural environments we are so lucky to share with those that adventure with us, and are excited to Champion Love Queenstown's initiatives. LET’S GO DO SOME GOOD!
Find out ways you can get involved too 👇
Show your love for Queenstown, connect with locals and contribute to a better future for our place and our people
We’re excited to share some big news with you…
The Glenorchy Air fleet is growing!!!
We are proud to introduce the 2020 Daher Kodiak 100 Series II Turboprop.
The aircraft will add an additional 9 seats bringing our overall capacity to 47 passengers per departure.
The Kodiak engine is capable of running on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) when this becomes available in New Zealand and means we can maintain course to be the first Queenstown based operator to use SAF in our turbine aircraft.
With the aircraft expected to be online this summer; we look forward to sharing our beautiful backyard with even more of you!
Keep an eye out for behind the scenes updates on our stories over the coming weeks.
📸Daher Aerospace
Conner Smith | Line Pilot 🧑✈️
Conner relocated from Auckland to Queenstown to join the Glenorchy Air team and pursue his career in aviation.
When he's not flying, you'll often find him exploring the stunning Central Otago region or participating in various sports such as golf, squash, and tennis.
He is a great addition to the team and might possibly even be everyone's new favorite 🤫
Our Pilot Jim was lucky enough to join our friends at Mt Cook Glacier Guiding for a heli hike on the Tasman Glacier this week...
The new ice cave on the Tasman Glacier is so deep that the colour red ceases to exist as it gets filtered out by all the ice above.
What an epic day 🙌
Unearthed a treasure from the past this week ✨
Delving into the archives, we stumbled upon a hidden gem - a vintage slide capturing Glenorchy Air's first-ever aircraft, the legendary Cessna 185C
✈️ ZK - CHK
Queenstown Airport
Queenstown
9300
| Monday | 7am - 7pm |
| Tuesday | 7am - 7pm |
| Wednesday | 7am - 7pm |
| Thursday | 7am - 7pm |
| Friday | 7am - 7pm |
| Saturday | 7am - 7pm |
| Sunday | 7am - 7pm |
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Send a message to Glenorchy Air:
Our favourite flights : Our Operations Manager Megan has flown all over the South Island and we're excited to share her top pick! #queenstown #nzmustdo #purenewzealand
Our Favourite Flights : See what James our Managing Director / Owner who took over the business in July 2019 has to say. #milfordsound #aoraki #queenstown
Our favourite flights: Find out what flight to choose from the people that know them best! #queenstown #purenz #mtcook
Our favourite flights : Find out what flight to choose from the people that know them best! #queenstown #purenz #sunriseflight
Our favourite flights - Find out which flight to do from the people that know them best! #purenz #queenstown #milfordsound
As part of our Sustainability Pledge, we agree to champion the Tiaki Promise and have done for several years now. We are passionate about aviation and our beautiful region and promise to care for New Zealand, for now, and for future generations. To act as a guardian, protecting and preserving our home and encouraging our customers to do the same. Let's make sure we look after all of Aotearoa 🇳🇿
As part of the Sustainability Pledge, we agree to champion the , as we have done for several years now. We are passionate about aviation and our beautiful region and promise to care for New Zealand, for now, and for future generations. To act as a guardian, protecting and preserving our home and encouraging our customers to do the same. Let's make sure we look after all of Aotearoa 🇳🇿
As part of the Queenstown Airport Sustainability Pledge, we agree to champion the Tiaki Promise, as we have done for several years now. We are passionate about aviation and our beautiful region and promise to care for New Zealand, for now, and for future generations. To act as a guardian, protecting and preserving our home and encouraging our customers to do the same. Let's make sure we look after all of Aotearoa 🇳🇿
Piopiotahi | Milford Sound Milford Sound is one of the most stunning destinations in New Zealand and we can't wait to show you why!
Aoraki | Mt. Cook The highest mountain in New Zealand, towering above the Southern Alps at 3,724 metres and home to New Zealand’s largest glacier. Our flight path from Queenstown to Mt. Cook includes views of NZ's BIG THREE, Fox, Franz Josef and the Tasman Glacier all in one breath-taking flight. Mt. Cook is an alpine wonderland, and we have multiple trip options to suit all levels of adventure. Walk the famous Hooker Valley Track or team up with our friends at GLACIER EXPLORERS, Mt Cook Glacier Guiding or Mt Cook Ski Planes and Helicopters. What activity have you been waiting to check off that bucket list?? https://www.glenorchyair.co.nz/destinations/mount-cook/
Rakiura | Stewart Island A charming, remote and truly untouched corner of New Zealand. Stewart Island is the last stop before Antarctica and feels like stepping back in time. Fall in love with its beautiful beaches and epic coastal walks on a day trip with us from Queenstown 👇 https://www.glenorchyair.co.nz/destinations/stewart-island/stewart-island-fly-explore-fly/
Rakiura | Stewart Island A charming, remote and truly untouched corner of New Zealand. Stewart Island is the last stop before Antarctica and feels like stepping back in time. Fall in love with its beautiful beaches and epic coastal walks on a day trip with us from Queenstown 👇 https://www.glenorchyair.co.nz/destinations/stewart-island/stewart-island-fly-explore-fly/
Rakiura | Stewart Island A charming, remote and truly untouched corner of New Zealand. Stewart Island is the last stop before Antarctica and feels like stepping back in time. Fall in love with its beautiful beaches and epic coastal walks on a day trip with us from Queenstown 👇 https://www.glenorchyair.co.nz/destinations/stewart-island/stewart-island-fly-explore-fly/
Rakiura | Stewart Island A charming, remote and truly untouched corner of New Zealand. Stewart Island is the last stop before Antarctica and feels like stepping back in time. Fall in love with its beautiful beaches and epic coastal walks on a day trip with us from Queenstown 👇 https://www.glenorchyair.co.nz/destinations/stewart-island/stewart-island-fly-explore-fly/
Let us show you the spectacular! Join us this summer on this unparalleled experience of Milford Sound all from your window seat. #queenstown #southisland #milfordsound #purenewzealand
💥August Product of the Month💥 Fly | Roscos Kayak | Fly Join us on an EPIC winter adventure… Depart Queenstown on a stunning scenic flight over the snow capped mountains of the Southern Alps. Then experience the towering peaks, spectacular waterfalls and local wildlife from sea level with our paddle and partners @roscosmilfordkayaks Book this month as SAVE $50!!
The countdown is on.. just one month to go 💫 Join us on a Sunrise Mt. Aspiring + Glaciers flight and discover our beautiful backyard in a whole new light. The Early Bird gets the views...and the spectacular price! Book now and SAVE!! https://www.glenorchyair.co.nz/destinations/sunrise-flights/sunrise-mt-aspiring-the-glaicers/ 🎥: Kyle Kotajarvi: Photographer
Are you heading to Queenstown this Waitangi Weekend? Why not join us on a spectacular adventure for a spectacular price! Our famous Milford Sound Fly | Cruise | Fly this weekend only... Book now and SAVE $151pp - https://www.glenorchyair.co.nz/destinations/milford-sound-glaciers/fly-cruise-fly/
Explore one of New Zealand's most remote locations on a flight with us direct from Queenstown. Stewart Island is a beautiful glimpse of a truly untouched NZ, with its rugged coastline, native bush, vast beaches and fascinating history. Our team will help curate a day suited to you! From an adventure-packed itinerary to spending a leisurely day birdwatching. Book today! https://www.glenorchyair.co.nz/destinations/stewart-island/stewart-island-fly-explore-fly/
Discover Milford Sound and Beyond.
Glenorchy Air operates awe-inspiring, intimate scenic flights from Queenstown and Glenorchy to Milford Sound, Mt Cook and Beyond, flown by knowledgeable, highly skilled local pilots who strive to exceed your expectations and deliver you a once in a lifetime experience.
All our Aircraft have exclusively window seats, headsets to hear the pilot’s commentary and modern safety features. Professional and Personal Service is Guaranteed from this Family owned and operated, Queenstown based company
The Helicopter Line, New Zealand
Lucas Place
