Time for NZ to purchase new Defence Force planes – former minister

It is time New Zealand bit the bullet and purchased new Defence Force plans, a former defence minister says.

It comes as the NZDF plane Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was travelling to Japan on broke down once again.

Luxon had to leave most of his delegation behind in Papua New Guinea when the plane broke down, travelling on himself commercially.

Luxon was only supposed to be in Port Moresby for 90 minutes on Sunday while the Boeing 757 was refuelled.

Defence Force Minister Judith Collins told Morning Report on Monday the back-up Defence Force plane is in long-term maintenance and would not be free until the end of next month.

Replacing the fleet would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and that would be have to weighed up against the current economic climate, she said.

But Collins’ predecessor Wayne Mapp, who was minister of defence between 2008 and 2011 in John Key’s government, said it was time for New Zealand to bite the bullet and purchase new planes.

Mapp told Midday Report governments of a similar size to New Zealand, such as Singapore or the Netherlands, use much more modern, multi-role aircraft.

“These planes are over 30-years-old and that really is the problem. Airlines don’t run planes of this nature for 30 years, and neither should the air force.”

He said the two-year lead-in time for delivery of an aircraft would give the government plenty of time to plan how they would be paid for – something that had to happen despite the present economic situation.

“New Zealand has always got some economic difficulties. We first bought jet aircraft for a transport role back in 1981 – well I remember 1981 was a tough year, in fact.”

Mapp said the planes could not be relied on and the purchase of replacements needed to be accelerated – despite the current economic difficulty.

Earlier this year, Luxon was also forced to take a commercial flight to Melbourne, when a Defence Force plane broke down before leaving the tarmac in Wellington.