Police respond to bomb alert at Queenstown Airport

Vaughan Brookfield/Stuff

The airport has been evacuated as emergency services respond to a bomb threat. (File photo)

Queenstown Airport is expected to remain closed for “several hours” after a bomb threat prompted an evacuation and emergency response.

Police and Aviation Security are investigating reports of what “appears to be an explosive device” at 8.40am on Friday, a police spokesperson said. The defence force’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit had also been notified.

The airport has been evacuated as the airport activates its emergency security protocols, with passengers reportedly to be taken by bus to a secure location.

In an update at 11am, Queenstown Airport said it remained closed while authorities worked through a risk assessment process, which was “likely to take several hours”.

Food and shelter was being arranged for passengers who required it.

The airport has advised people to contact the airline they booked with for further information and to rebook if they had flights booked for Friday.

Police advised people to avoid the airport until the incident had been resolved.

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Airport staff were working with passengers to make sure everyone remained safe, and all inbound flights had been diverted, the airport said in a statement earlier on Friday.

“All passengers due to depart Queenstown today, and those expecting to meet incoming flights, are asked not to come to the airport until advised otherwise.”

Further updates on flight details were to be provided on the Queenstown Airport Facebook page.

Air New Zealand chief operational integrity and safety officer David Morgan said due to the incident, four inbound flights had been cancelled, and one flight had returned to Christchurch.

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An alert banner on the Queenstown Airport website asks the public to stay away until the incident is resolved.

Six outbound flights from Queenstown had also been cancelled. They were flights to Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.

“We apologise to our passengers for the disruption, especially as this has happened at the end of the busy school holidays period. Safety is our number one priority, and we are working with the relevant authorities,” Morgan said.

A Jetstar spokesperson said two flights have been affected by the incident so far.

Wānaka resident Hayley Barbour said her mother-in-law, also from Wānaka, had her flight cancelled and was waiting in the rain with other passengers in one of the airport’s car parks, as they were being moved by bus to the event centre.

Barbour said they had been advised that the delays would be a “few hours”.

Louella, her mother-in-law, was catching a flight on her way to her great-niece’s wedding tomorrow, and had caught an early bus from Wānaka to the airport, to make sure she was on time.

Barbour said if she couldn’t change Louella’s flights, she'd travel to Queenstown and pick her up.

It was a shame that Facebook had given the family more information than the airport had given to passengers waiting outside, she said.

More to come.