Franz Josef Helicopter Flights

The four kinds of Franz Josef helicopter flight

Nearly every flight from Franz Josef belongs to one of four groups. Short scenic flights of 20 to 25 minutes fly up the Franz Josef Glacier and land once on snow high in the Southern Alps. Twin-glacier flights of 30 to 35 minutes add Fox Glacier (or, on one route, the Tasman Glacier) and keep the single landing. Flights of 40 to 60 minutes take in three or four glaciers with views toward Aoraki/Mt Cook, and the four-glacier flight lands twice.

The fourth group is the heli-hike. Here the helicopter is a short transfer, and the point of the trip is a guided walk of a few hours on the ice in crampons.

The most-reviewed flight on this site sits in the first group. Glacier Country Helicopters’ Franz Josef Glacier: Helicopter Flight & Alpine Landing lasts 25 minutes with a 10-minute landing, is rated 4.8 from 696 GetYourGuide reviews and costs from $223 per person (check tour details). The 20-minute flights, including the cheapest flight on this site, are set out on snow landing flights.

Listed minutes, air time and time on the snow

The minutes printed on a listing cover the whole flight, landing included. Glacier Country Helicopters’ 35-minute flight over two glaciers includes a 10-minute snow landing, so you spend about 25 minutes in the air (check tour details). You also check in 30 minutes before departure, and The Helicopter Line suggests allowing about an hour in total for a 35-minute flight.

Time on the snow varies by operator too. Glacier Country Helicopters says its landings last around 10 to 15 minutes including loading, Glacier Helicopters says around 6 to 8 minutes, and The Helicopter Line’s Fox Glacier flight lists about 10 minutes. Two flights with the same listed length can give you a different amount of time outside, so compare the landing figure before the price.

Routes, glaciers and landing types

The short flights stay above the Franz Josef side of the range. Twin-glacier flights cover Franz Josef and Fox on a set route, or Franz Josef plus Fox or Tasman on a route that changes with the weather; twin glacier flights lays the options side by side. Flights that cross the Main Divide to the Tasman Glacier, New Zealand’s longest, are on Mount Cook flights. A clear view of Aoraki/Mt Cook depends on cloud and on the route flown that day.

Operators use three words for the landing. A snow landing puts you on a snowfield high in the mountains. INFLITE calls an alpine landing one on a mountain site that may have no snow in warm months, and a glacier landing one directly on a glacier, with more reliable snow year-round. The listing for the 25-minute Glacier Country flight says that in summer its snow landing may become an alpine landing if no snow is available. Snow landing vs alpine landing shows which flights land where.

No landing is guaranteed. The pilot makes the call on the day, and Glacier Country Helicopters adjusts the price if your flight ends up as an overflight.

When a longer flight makes sense

Pay for more minutes when you want more glaciers or a second landing. The 45-minute three-glacier flight and the 60-minute four-glacier flight with two landings (check tour details) are compared on multi-glacier flights. A longer flight can also help on an unsettled day: the operator’s listing for its 25-minute flight says that flight has its highest rate of cancellation, because it has one route and one landing site while the longer flights have several.

If ten minutes standing on the snow is the goal, a short flight covers it. Walking among crevasses and ice formations takes a guided heli-hike: up to 2.5 hours on the ice with Franz Josef Glacier Guides, or up to 3 hours with Fox Glacier Guiding from Fox Glacier village, each with age, weight and fitness rules. Groups of four to six can hire the whole aircraft, and private flights are priced per helicopter for up to six people.

When you know which of these you want, which Franz Josef helicopter flight to book gives a pick for each kind of traveler, from families with small children to people with one night in town.

Weather and the backup day

Glacier Country Helicopters says flights are rescheduled for weather regularly, and no operator publishes a cancellation rate. The final call comes at check-in, 30 minutes before departure, and the weather in the Alps can differ from the sky over the township. Every operator advises booking for your first day in the area and leaving spare days after it. Franz Josef Glacier Guides suggests at least two.

On GetYourGuide you can cancel free up to 24 hours ahead, and a weather cancellation gets you a new time or a full refund. Weather, cancellations and refunds explains what happens next and how refunds reach you.

Franz Josef or Fox Glacier

Franz Josef and Fox Glacier villages are about 24 km apart, roughly 25 minutes by road, and most flights compared here check in at Franz Josef, including four GetYourGuide listings filed under Fox Glacier. Choose the village by where you are sleeping and which heli-hike you want; Franz Josef vs Fox Glacier lists which flights leave from each.

Rough prices

GetYourGuide shows prices in US dollars per person. Flights of 20 to 25 minutes cost $204 to $223. Twin-glacier flights and the 30-minute Tasman flight run $243 to $280, the 45-minute three-glacier flight $393, and the 60-minute flights $395 to $506. The two heli-hikes with a page here cost $480 and $508.

Operators quote their own prices in New Zealand dollars, so their websites show larger numbers for the same flight. Franz Josef helicopter prices lists every flight with its price per listed minute and the children’s fares.

Seeing the glacier without a helicopter

You can see Franz Josef Glacier for free. The Department of Conservation’s valley walk is an easy 1.7 km return, about 30 minutes, to a viewpoint about 3 km from the terminal face, starting at the car park at the end of the glacier access road. You cannot walk onto the ice from there: the river has cut off access up the valley, and helicopters are now the only way onto the glacier for guided walks.

DOC also says the snowfields of the upper névé can be seen only from a helicopter or ski plane. Seeing the glacier without a helicopter covers the free walks at both glaciers, so you can plan a day on foot around your flight.