Putting the cost to one side lets look at the logistics.
The PM was at Wellington airport at around 0840. We spoke to her. On arrival at the Koru Lounge she discovered that all flights were cancelled. Her staff phone up the Airforce and a plane at Ohakea was made available. That will take at least 20 minutes or so. The PM then drives north from Wellington in dreadful conditions to Ohakea. That would take a minimum two hours given traffic conditions. So the earliest she could take off would be 1100. She would not have been in Invercargill much before 1pm. This is a best case scenario. The media reports are suggesting that the PM "took a lunchtime flight". Our guess is she got in around 2pm.
Wellington Airport was operational around 1130 and flights were landing and taking off from then, including a flight to Christchurch. Did she really get to Invercargill any quicker than she could have by commercial means?
And what was the carbon footprint of this exercise. What does Jeanette think about this?
Update The Grey Power website says the event was scheduled for 1.30pm. Newspaper accounts say that the PM did not arrive until 3pm. It would have been quicker to go commercial.
