Tandem skydiving at Franz Josef

5 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Franz Josef has one skydiving company, Skydive Franz. Its booking office is at 63 Cron Street, at the Franz Josef Glacier Base, it shares a base with Inflite Franz & Fox Helicopters, and a shared transfer takes you from there to the airfield and back. The whole thing takes about three hours: check-in, a safety briefing, kitting up, the climb in the plane, the jump and the drive back.

The view on the way down covers the glaciers and the sea. The operator describes Aoraki/Mount Cook and the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers immediately to the right and the open Tasman Sea to the left, and the landing area lies only about 300 feet above sea level.

What you see on the way down

DOC describes the Franz Josef Glacier as one of the few glacier faces this close to the coast, and the terminal faces of both Franz Josef and Fox lie less than 300 metres above sea level. The Fox Glacier is 13 km long. UNESCO, which lists the area as part of the Te Wāhipounamu World Heritage Area, notes that the two glaciers descend into temperate rainforest. From the plane you see that whole slope at once: snowfields and Aoraki/Mount Cook on one side, forest and the Tasman Sea on the other.

The same mountains catch the rain. DOC says the park can receive up to five metres a year, so the view depends on the day you jump.

Choosing a height

The standard jumps go from 13,000, 16,500 or 18,000 feet. Freefall lasts about 45, 65 or 85 seconds before your instructor opens the parachute. Teenagers aged 13 to 16 may only jump from 13,000 feet. Over 16, any height is open, but anyone under 18 needs written consent from a parent.

Skydive Franz also offers a lower jump, with the same booking office, the same transfer and a minimum age of 7. The tour pages disagree on its exact height, so check your confirmation before the day.

Helicopter and skydive on one day

Because Skydive Franz and Inflite operate from the same base, they sell a combination: a helicopter flight the operator calls the Tasman Experience, with a landing on a snowfield, and a tandem jump from 13,000 feet. It is open to ages 18 to 65, and groups are no larger than twelve. The tour page does not give a reliable total duration, so allow well over the three hours of a jump on its own.

What is included and what costs extra

Reviews praise the instructors and the safety procedures almost without exception, along with the organisation of the day. The jump, the briefing, your instructor and all equipment are included, among them a helmet, gloves, goggles and a jumpsuit. Food is not. Photos and video are sold separately, and reviews describe the media package as expensive. Passengers over 100 kg pay a surcharge on the day, in two steps up to 120 kg, so give your real weight at booking. One reviewer paid more at the desk than the amount shown when booking; keep your confirmation to hand.

Some rules catch people out. You cannot skydive within 48 hours of sea diving, which matters if you come from the coast. And the confirmed date or time may differ from the one you requested. Keep the rest of that day flexible.

Wind, cloud and the time of year

Skydive Franz jumps all year, but only when the sky allows. Franz Josef is the wettest of the four West Coast stations in NIWA’s rainfall table, with an average of 5,751 mm of rain over 206 days a year (NIWA, 1981–2010). It is not especially windy, though: the mean wind speed recorded at Franz Josef is 7.8 km/h, lower than at Haast or Hokitika, and only about 17 days a year bring gusts above 61 km/h. Reviews mention jumps moved for weather, by a few hours or to another day. If the jump cannot happen, you get a new time or a full refund, and you can cancel free of charge up to 24 hours ahead.

In winter you have fewer hours to work with. On 21 June the sun is up from 08:12 to 17:10, while on 21 December it rises at 05:55 and sets at 21:20. UV is strong from September to April, and at altitude in every season, so wear sunscreen even though you spend most of the time in a jumpsuit.

Who cannot jump

A few limits apply before you book. The lower jump starts at age 7, teenagers under 17 are held to 13,000 feet, and passengers over 100 kg pay a surcharge, and the helicopter combination ends at 65 years. If you have been sea diving in the last 48 hours, the jump has to wait. New Zealand clocks go back on 4 April 2027 and forward again on 26 September 2027, so check the time on your confirmation if you book around those dates.

Combining a jump with the rest of your stay

Book the jump for the start of your stay, as you would a helicopter flight, because both depend on the same clear weather. On a grounded day, the other things to do in Franz Josef include the kiwi centre, the hot pools and kayaking on Lake Mapourika, which goes ahead in rain.

For tandem jumps on the eastern side of the Southern Alps, see visitmountcook.com.