Antarctic Flights Are Running 41 Per Cent Over What The Stations Need
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Somebody is flying south more than the roster accounts for.
Airport movement logs for the 2025–26 austral season, obtained by this newspaper under the Official Information Act, show southbound movements from Christchurch running 41 per cent above the flight hours implied by the published station personnel and cargo figures.
Given the arithmetic in writing, the national programme attributes the difference to three things: cargo cycling on partially loaded returns, pilot currency sorties, and a heavier than usual weather-diversion season.
Apply the programme's own figures for all three and 9 per cent is left over.
This newspaper has asked what the 9 per cent is. The programme has said it will respond after the season closes in October. We will print the answer.
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Sources & Method
Public movement logs, compared line by line against the programme's published station-traffic figures for the same season. The programme was given the arithmetic in writing and its explanation is printed.
Who we spoke to
- Airport authority movement log, Christchurch International, public record. Obtained under the New Zealand Official Information Act July 2026
- Programme spokesperson, National Antarctic programme. Written questions; response received 31 July 2026 Attributes the difference to cargo cycling, training sorties, and weather diversions.
What we could not confirm
- Whether the residual after the programme's three explanations is significant. Our own arithmetic leaves 9 per cent unaccounted and we cannot say what it is.
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