Kershaw’s are back in Queenstown

9 March 2011

An international aviation business has been launched from Queenstown by a highflying aviator family.

The Kershaw Aviation Group has already established itself offshore with a major contract in Indonesia and expects to grow the business exclusively offshore from its new office in Terrace Junction, Queenstown.

The family has always considered Queenstown home and is delighted that technology allows their aviation business to be located in their hometown.

“All of us grew up in Queenstown and love it here,” says Operations Manager Josh Kershaw. “It’s really a dream to have the family working together – all the skills we need as an aviation group are right here within our family. We can offer a full service aviation company all under one roof.”

Aviation is in the Kershaw blood. Dave has flown 17000 hours and began his career flying in Fiordland in the heady days of deer recovery.

Growing up in the air – Josh flies fixed wing planes while Mark is a licensed aircraft engineer.

Mark has been working within his field on and offshore for the past 12 years, touring in PNG for Airwork NZ Ltd where he learned to understand the difficulties of working in remote areas. Josh is an operations whiz whose experience includes 7 months managing aircraft crews in Indonesia after the Banda Aceh Boxing Day Tsunami – he holds a New Zealand service medal for that work.

Ricky has a banking background and provides support for offshore work including data entry and civil aviation compliance.

“Our combined overseas experience, particularly in unique locations, means we’re pretty good at accommodating most demands,” said Josh.

The Kershaw Group’s first contract is as Aviation Consultant for AirFast Indonesia Pty – a well established Indonesian aviation company. The New Zealanders were employed for their number 8 wire mentality and ability to provide air support for the world’s largest gold mine, third largest copper mine and most importantly, the world’s highest open pit mine.

“The altitude is the problem,” says Josh. “While the Grasberg Mine is only 14,500ft above sea level, we operate to 18,000 ft to collect core samples of the snow fields and from the three glaciers here – just 4 degrees off the equator. It’s a very high place to service by helicopter. We collect samples for scientists studying the deterioration; current measurements indicate these glaciers could be extinct in as little as a decade.”

The extraordinary altitudes flown on this project by their five kiwi pilots is believed to be the highest altitude drilling operation in the South Pacific.

“This operation has given us huge experience and we are now looking to expand our operation into other areas,” said Josh.

“We’re an export business running from Queenstown that has the skills in house to think well outside the square. We’re set up to provide this sort of aviation problem solving for any job, anywhere.”

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(From L-R) – David, Ricky, Mark and Josh Kershaw of Kershaw Aviation Group

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ENDS

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