Aircraft

Most visitors to New Zealand arrive by commercial air travel, however if you are arriving on a private aircraft you should be aware of the following information.

General Requirements

Please refer to the Standards and Regulation, Cargo and Containers for information about items arriving by Air Freight. It is necessary to insure that the contents of any cargo complies with What you must declare and does not contain restricted items. Additionally, general information for those arriving by air can be found in the Personal Travellers section of our site.

Before leaving

The person in charge (Captain) of an aircraft, that is not a commercial scheduled flight, must notify the MPI inspector at the airport as to when it is intending to arrive.

Aircrafts must arrive at a Place of First Arrival.

If you plan to land an international flight at an airport not listed as a Place of First Arrival permission must be sought and approved by the Director-General of MPI (82 KB) or a delegate prior to the arrival, contact for application. Applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Approval may also be required by other government agencies such as NZ Customs and MOH.

Information for Travellers arriving by air is available in the Entering New Zealand, Aircraft and also the Entering New Zealand, Personal Travellers section of our site.

All aircrafts must comply with the requirements of MPI.

Disinsection of aircraft

MPI and the Ministry of Health require aircraft to be "disinsected" for invertebrates that may be pests or carriers of animal, plant or human disease. Surveys have conclusively shown that international aircraft present a pathway for hitch-hiking invertebrates.

Australia and New Zealand have a joint procedure for the disinsection of aircraft arriving from overseas.

• Schedule of Aircraft Disinsection Procedures
• Disinsection of small aircraft entering New Zealand (148 KB)

Refuse disposal

Several operational standards have been developed relating to the disposal or sterilisation of refuse from aircraft.

• Draft Standard for General Transitional Facilities for Uncleared Goods (BNZ-STD-TFGEN) (143 KB)
• Guidance Document to the Standard for General Transitional Facilities for Uncleared Goods (1416 KB)
• List of Approved Disinfectants for Incineration/Sterilisation Facilities

Our qualified clearance officers will respond to your enquiries as soon as possible. For general enquiries phone +64 9 909 8614 - this number is staffed 7 days a week - or email your enquiries to MPI Clearance.

Page last updated: 13 March 2013