The government said work was underway to develop new rules that will support a reduction in carbon emissions from aircraft.
Safety improvements will be a focus of the programme New Southern Sky. Photo: 123RF
Transport Minister Phil Twyford said globally, aviation accounted for about 2 percent of total CO2 emissions.
Mr Twyford told an aviation industry conference in Nelson that 15 million departures were handled domestically last year.
And it was going to get busier.
Mr Twyford said the Civil Aviation Authority and Ministry of Transport were working on a plan to make sure the country's aviation industry was ready for what is coming.
"New Southern Sky will enable shorter journeys, improve safety and lower carbon emissions for more than 15 million passenger departures every year."
New Southern Sky is a New Zealand aviation modernisation plan approved by Cabinet in 2014. It will guide the introduction of new technology for air traffic management and navigation.
In simple terms this will mean shorter, better planned journeys and therefore less fuel use.
Mr Twyford said it will bring close to $1 billion in economic benefits over the next 20 years.
"The benefits will come through fuel savings, lower aircraft operating costs - the programme itself is expected to provide direct benefits of $128 million over the same period."
Safer journeys for passengers were also on the cards.
WorkSafe New Zealand said if passenger deaths among operators of smaller commercial aircraft and helicopters were added to the statistics, it would be higher than agriculture and close to forestry right now.
As it stood now, the number of industry deaths in this sector were dropping, WorkSafe chief executive Nicole Rosie said.
She said they had dropped from about 30 deaths per 100,000 workers to about eight to 10 per 100,000.
John Nicholson of the Aviation Industry Association said the industry supported government moves towards, cleaner and safer operations.
He said it could play a greater role in the economic and social development of New Zealand, but policy change was also needed in education, around pilot training.
He said the industry now needed a "fit for purpose" Act.
"We're keen to work with your (government) officials to develop a new Civil Aviation A Act that sets the basis for safe and sustainable growth over the next 30 years," Mr Nicholson said.
Mr Twyford said the Minister for Climate Change was looking hard in his direction for how transport could wind back emissions.
"While some of the biggest and easiest gains are going to come in land transport, and the conversion of the vehicle fleet to electric, aviation of course is not going to be let off the hook in this regard."
And as Airbus showed delegates at the conference, hybrid electric-powered aircraft were no longer the stuff of science fiction. The company's quad cruiser was already flying as a prototype to bigger things, said Matthias Seifert of Airbus Defence and Space.
"Currently the medium-size version we have got, can be employed for maritime surveillance, and for other work where traditional manned aircraft is not suitable."
Mr Twyford said New Zealand's regulations and flexibility had allowed trials of new technology, such as the Google-backed Zephyr Airworks autonomous, flying car technology.
"They are currently trialing in the South Island what's essentially a flying car, and have recently moved to testing it beyond line-of-sight."
He said the global carbon offsetting regime Corsia, would eventually flow through to the New Zealand aviation sector, requiring it to take solid steps towards reducing aircraft emissions.
