NZ Jet: Husband-and-wife team get fast new Gulfstream, aim to deliver tailor-made journeys big airlines can’t

John and Sofia Ambler, pictured here in 2022, run a private jet company based in Auckland's Ardmore. Photo / Dean Purcell

A Kiwi couple say their new aircraft will enable tailor-made trips in a jet cruising as fast as 890km/h to just about anywhere in New Zealand or Australia.

NZ Jet directors John and Sofia Ambler have added a Gulfstream G100 to the company fleet.

The aircraft has seating for up seven passengers and can fly direct to Melbourne or Tahiti from Auckland, or to Hawaii with just one stop.

A key focus for NZ Jet is flying to multiple destinations in ways big carriers cannot.

There’s also a queue-busting benefit, with customers able to access a private terminal and avoid long wait times.

“The jet is just ready when they need it,” Sofia Ambler told the Herald.

This Gulfstream G100 should be available for charters in December. Photo / Supplied

“We’ve already had quite a few clients that are domestic clients,” she added.

“It could be a board of directors who, say, have to visit three stops which might not be serviced by commercial airlines.”

Tourists from overseas might want to tailor an itinerary not otherwise available.

“We might do Kerikeri, Napier and Queenstown.”

She said NZ Jet was launched in 2022 and the first year went well but the 2023/24 financial year was harder.

Still, business was holding up.

She said the couple also built up Heletranz, growing its fleet from two helicopters to 13 and merging it with Inflite Group.

The helicopter company met demand for VIP private services.

Sofia and John Ambler at their Albany helicopter hangar in 2021. Photo / Dean Purcell

She said that business had grown to a point where the couple did not have to be hands-on with it.

“We still have a shareholding in the group but we’re not operationally involved in it.”

John Ambler said with the G100, possible destinations were “wherever the client needs to be” and the main season for business travel was November to May, he added.

“They’re here for the summer.”

He said business travel had taken a hit from the domestic economic downturn.

That was in contrast to the United States, especially Texas and California, he said.

“Trump has given them 100% taxable deductions in second-hand aircraft now,” he said, referring to the Big Beautiful Bill Act restoring a tax incentive for qualifying aircraft.

He said the G100 was a fairly straightforward choice.

“In its price point in the market for range and speed it doesn’t really have a lot of competition,” he said.

“Our clients want faster, more efficient options that accommodate their whole family or associates, at a price-sensitive rate, while still providing the exceptional service and comfort they expect.”

The couple said buying the Gulfstream during a challenging economic environment was a big decision, but they were happy they’d done it.

NZ Jet expected the aircraft to be available for charter from December.

John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.