Air Milford — Attraction in South Island

My wife had driven to Milford Sounds nine years ago when she went on holiday to New Zealand. She said it should not be missed but you could live without the five hour drive! She booked my son and I on the flight to get a birds eye view of this and a whole lot more. We were in Queenstown for three days late March and so the weather was not so predicable and my wife was in regular communications with airmilford arranging flight times to ensure we received the best service and views. The staff during this process had our best interests at heart and were very accommodating to our time schedule and the weather conditions. We were collected via taxi and taken to the airfield, check-in and debrief was efficient and warmly presented. Our pilot was Antony Sproull who explained where we were going, how long it would take and what we were likely to see. There were 12 on our flight, four groups of two, mother/father/baby and a single traveller. Antony took us out to the plane and suggested that the single traveller "would be co-pilot, unless anyone else wanted to to sit up front"... Unbelievably a girl travelling with her partner said she wanted to (I think we all wanted to but the obvious single traveller was prime candidate for this position). The single traveller did not put up any resistance and it was incredibly rude I felt and it was an awkward situation (perhaps the single traveller should have been told she was "co-pilot" and the offer to everyone else not made)..... My son and I looked at one another and said in harmony..... "some people" 🤣🤣🤣 Back to the good stuff, the flight was amazing I sat on the right hand side and my son on the left hand side (all seats are window facing, one on each side). Antony fave us a running commentary of what we were looking at with the history behind each location, film locations for Lord of the Rings, Mission Impossible etc. We saw Milford Sounds, mountain tops, glaciers, old mining locations and endless views over the hour long trip. My son thought I had the best view on the right hand side of the plane and I thought that he had had the best side sitting on the left behind the captain..... Goes to show, both sides had excellent views. After a safe landing Antony took countless pictures of passengers in front of the plane. I would recommend this to anyone in New Zealand, we are from the UK and so if you have gone this far you really should go the extra mile and fly with...

We're on our New Zealand "taster's" tour, and the only place we're staying on the South Island is Queenstown.

And if you're going to visit Queenstown, you're going to want to visit Milford Sound (it's actually a fjord, but whatever).

And if you want to visit Milford Sound and you have a time constraint, the fastest way to get there is by air (35 minutes one-way). Our travel people booked the flight out via Air Milford. Normally, I'm nervous about these things. I like my planes to have at least two sources of propulsion and jet are preferred to propellers. And honestly speaking, I'm not prone to having such adventures.

Nonetheless, today was an amazing Queenstown day, and the conditions were right for the flight. The weather is temperamental around here, so the procedure was to call in the night before and call in this morning. We didn't have to call in this morning as Air Milford called us and told us the trip was a "Go!" The communication was open and informative.

We got picked up in front of our hotel by a Queenstown taxi and were ferried to the airstrip. Check-in was simple. Antony came out and briefed us in front of a map. We loaded up the plane fully, and off we went.

The flight was flawless. Antony told us all the landmarks and what we were seeing. Can't say I was completely calm, but Antony flies the Cessna as you or I would commute to work.

We saw lakes, rivers, valleys, mountains, grasslands... everything that Frodo saw, except from the sky.... so I guess as you would were you riding a giant eagle with seat belts.

On the way into Milford Sound, you fly to the Tasman Sea and turn back. You make a small turn and then plop into the air strip.

On the way out, Antony had everyone (who wanted to) take pictures with the plane, and my wife even got to ride the co-pilot. The flight home was less nervous. It was a continuous stream of pictures.

In short, If you like adventure... If you're time-constrained... If you like supporting family-owned, small businesses... If you like excellence in an amazing experience.

You should book with...

One of the most memorable experiences of our two weeks in New Zealand was flying in a gorgeous vintage airplane on our “Milford and Big 5 Glaciers Flight” with AirMilford. All of Air Milford's flights leave from Queenstown airport, which is only a fifteen minute drive from downtown Queenstown. There’s an assortment of morning and midday tours, so they’re easy to fit in with the rest of your schedule, whether you’re hiking, wine tasting, or jumping off of something!

Some of the most popular offerings from Air Milford are flights that land in Milford Sound, and connect you with a cruise of the sound. For people who don’t want to spend time driving on vacation, this is perfect and saves a long 4-5 hour drive from Queenstown. (Longer if you’re taking the bus.) Or, perhaps the best of both worlds, the bus-cruise-fly option. Here you will drive out to Milford on a tour bus, allowing you to see the stunning scenery, and then do your cruise. Then, when the last thing you want is to get back on a bus, you can return via plane, making the journey 30 minutes instead of 5 hours!

The Big 5 Glaciers is the first of the day, leaving at 8am. It is a one hour aerial tour without a landing. Since we wanted to do the Key Summit hike, we chose to drive to Milford and do the cruise on our own, so this was the perfect flight option to allow us to explore the park on our own pace, but still have the incredible view of...