Two Queenstown scenic flight pilots have been served trespass notices after racing a car along Queenstown Airport runway in the middle of the night.
The pair was spotted by contractors working on the runway, and also recorded by security cameras, about midnight on May 9, the Otago Daily Times reported today.
They gained access to the runway using their airside security passes, said Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) chief executive Steve Sanderson.
"They put people's lives at risk and abused their access privileges," he said.
Queenstown police investigated, but criminal charges were not pursued.
Mr Sanderson said the pilots accepted the trespass notices, which bans them from all airport land for two years.
He would not reveal their names, ages, or the company they worked for.
The stunt was considered a serious matter as the car could have left behind "foreign object debris" on the runway, jeopardising aviation safety, he said.
A metal strip on a runway was blamed by investigators as the cause of the Air France Concorde crash in July 2000, which killed 113 people.
Mr Sanderson said the security gate the pilots used was now closed and locked and airside gate access was being reviewed.
NZPA