'Excessive': Cost of transport during Prince Charles, Camilla's visit slammed

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, meet fans during a public walk at Auckland's Viaduct Harbour last month. Photo / Pool

By Aaron Dahmen and Jake McKee

Almost half a million taxpayer dollars was spent on air travel for Prince Charles and Camilla during their recent trip to New Zealand.

The figures have been obtained by Newstalk ZB under the Official Information Act.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force was tasked with providing air transport for the royal visit in November.

That is estimated to have cost $443,000, including aircraft rates and personnel costs.

New Zealand Republic campaign chair Lewis Holden says the total amount wasn't worth it for New Zealand - especially given the tour only lasted a week.

"Essentially, we are giving them free holidays on the New Zealand taxpayer. When they visit other countries where the British royals aren't head of state, they actually have to pay for it, and that's why they seem to like coming here."

He says it's excessive for what New Zealand gets in return, considering it's only one aspect of the overall cost.

"You have the costs Defence incur from transport, but then you also have the costs the Department of Internal Affairs has from all their chaperoning and security and so on."

The couple's visit in 2015 cost New Zealand taxpayers $1.4 million.

The total cost of this year's visit is yet to be released.

The full cost of having Prince Harry and Meghan visit New Zealand last year was more than $1 million.