NZONE to close Rotorua operation

NZONE Skydive plans to close its Rotorua operation and is in discussions with a potential buyer.

The Queenstown-based company opened the Rotorua operation in 2003 in a bid to expand its operation to the North Island.

NZONE business development manager Derek Melnick said the operation was an existing going concern and presented all indications of being a good fit for the NZONE Skydive brand to expand north.

The Rotorua operation had successfully been running against some pretty challenging trading conditions but still managed to deliver modest growth over the years in Rotorua.

However, Mr Melnick said accessibility to Rotorua, the high cost of domestic air travel between Rotorua and other centres and competing against cultural and geothermal tourism products and other adventure activities were factors that had impacted on the Rotorua operation.

In a move set to focus the organisation on its Queenstown base, NZONE Skydive is in discussions with a potential buyer that may take over the existing operation which is earmarked to close next Sunday.

Mr Melnick said he did not know how long those discussions would take.

He said the nine staff employed in Rotorua had been informed over recent weeks of the decision to close the operation and every effort had been made to employ them in Queenstown.

Mr Melnick said anyone who had a skydive voucher would be offered the opportunity to transfer their skydive to Queenstown if it was convenient or would be refunded.

The company had recently undertaken a comprehensive upgrade of its Queenstown operation including the purchase of a second Supervan 900hp turbo aircraft which significantly lifts the capacity of its South Island base where tandem skydiving in New Zealand began over 22 years ago.

The development of the Queenstown operation will move to become more of NZONE Skydive's focus.