Three Whakaari/White Island helicopter tour companies had never once cancelled a trip to the island over volcanic activity.
The revelation comes in court documents summarising the cases against Volcanic Air Safaris Limited (VASL), Aerius Limited and Kahu New Zealand Limited. The three parties pleaded guilty just days before the start of a trial curerntly ongoing for six remaining defendants.
The charges are focused on alleged health and safety failures in the lead up to the fatal December 9, 2019 eruption, which killed 22 people and left 25 others with serious injuries. They come under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
The charges are being brought by WorkSafe and none of them are to do with the eruption itself or the events that followed.
The summary of facts for the helicopter tour operators states:
- "No VASL trips were ever cancelled on the grounds of concerns about volcanic activity, although trips were altered slightly so as to avoid areas of risk on Whakaari such as geysers, vents and potential landslides."
- "No Aerius trips were ever cancelled on the grounds of concerns about volcanic activity at either Volcanic Alert Level (VAL) VAL1 or VAL2 (Aerius did not visit Whakaari at VAL3)."
- "No [Kahu] trips were ever cancelled on the grounds of concerns about volcanic activity, although trips were altered slightly so as to avoid areas of risk on Whakaari such as geysers, vents and potential landslides."
Volcanic Alert Level 2 indicates "moderate to heightened volcanic unrest", while VAL 3 is a "minor volcanic eruption".
For all three companies, the decision to visit the island was at the discretion of the particular helicopter pilot.
All three companies did sometimes cancel trips due to weather conditions.
Volcanic Air Safaris had provided tours on Whakaari since 2009, Aerius Limited had provided tours on Whakaari since 2014, and Kahu had provided tours on Whakaari since 2009.
A fourth helicopter company, Inflite Charters Limited, was also charged and also pleaded guilty - but Inflite Charters promoted and sold subcontracted tours, rather than operating the tours itself.
Safety information
The court documents reviewed by 1News also show the three companies only provided written safety information in English.
"VASL provided a safety terms and customer declaration document to tourists, who were required to sign it prior to boarding the helicopter for their tour," the summary of facts says.
"The written information provided to tourists was not tailored to the level of risk at different VALs (Volcanic Alert Levels) and was available only in English."
Later, the summary of facts adds: "Aerius' safety information was provided only in English. [Kahu's safety] documents were provided only in English."
Refund policies
Survivors and family members remained silent as the video was shown. (Source: 1News)
The documents also note that the three companies' refund policies "clearly limited [peoples'] ability to make an informed and voluntary choice about whether or not to continue with the tour".
For VASL, "tourists did not receive this [safety] information until they arrived to commence their tour" and "tourists did not have an opportunity to receive a full refund if they decided not to participate in the tour on receiving the safety information".
"Some may have booked and paid for the tour days, weeks or months prior," the documents note.
For Aerius, the written safety information was only provided after tourists had booked and confirmed their tour.
"Those tourists were not able to receive a full refund unless there was inclement weather and the trip could not proceed; if they cancelled their tour within 12 hours of departure they could receive a maximum refund of 50 per cent of the price paid," the documents state.
"That is, by the time they read the safety terms and declaration, tourists had already booked and paid for their tour."
For Kahu, "tourists would not receive a refund if they decided not to go" after receiving the safety information.
The court case
Whakaari Management Limited and its directors Andrew, James and Peter Buttle, as well as ID Tours New Zealand Limited and Tauranga Tourism Services Limited, are the defendants in the ongoing judge-only trial.
Thirteen defendants were originally charged, nearly a year after the eruption.
NEMA had its charges dismissed in March, and was awarded costs of $40,000.
Inflite Charters, GNS Science, White Island Tours, Volcanic Air Safaris Limited, Aerius Limited and Kahu New Zealand Limited have entered guilty pleas. Inflite was ordered to pay $267,500 while the others are yet to be sentenced.
Volcanic Air Safaris pleaded guilty to two charges and faces a maximum charge of $1.5 million for each charge.
Aerius pleaded guilty to two charges and faces a maximum fine of $500,000 for each charge.
Kahu NZ pleaded guilty to two charges and faces a maximum fine of $500,000 for each charge.
SHARE ME