The only place in this part of the world where people can pay for a joyride in a military jet aircraft is Tauranga. And the jet is a former Czech Airforce L39 Albatross, which is now open for business.

Owner Craig Mossman says they have just completed at 18-month Civil Aviation process enabling them to do joy rides so people can go for a ride in an actual jet fighter.

The jet, in its new paint scheme, attracted a lot of interest at the recent airshow at Tauranga Airport. And Craig says his team has come out of the show with a few forward bookings.

'There's a huge market in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States because New Zealand is the only country in the world that has this. It's called a Part 115 Operation where people can actually go for a ride in a military jet and pay money to do it.

'Everywhere else in the world it's illegal. You are just not allowed to do it.”

'It's quite exciting the amount of interest in it, which is really neat,” says Craig.

His crew Jayden Mossman, Cole Mossman, Paul Holloway, Craig Mossman and Scott Wagstaff.

'We've got two more jets in the states; we're looking at bringing one of them out depending on the demand, maybe towards the end of the year.”

The paint scheme is fashioned after the Czechoslovakian Airforce low-visibility camouflage paint scheme – with a black tail to tart it up.

'We have the Czech roundel on the tail. It's normally red, white, blue but they do it grey to match their low viz scheme.

'It's all very, as it was, in the airforce inside. You hop in and you are sitting on the ejection seat – which we have actually had to disarm. We are not allowed to have it live. But it's all original otherwise.”

Craig's expecting business from people making bookings in advance for special occasions.

'A lot of people are interested in doing aerobatics too, going up and pulling G in loops and rolls just as they do in military jets,” says Craig.

'I've actually got an instructor's rating so if people do fly themselves, if they have a licence I can take them up and they can fly as an instructional flight – but they can't sit in the front. They have to sit in the back.

And Craig says doing aerobatics in a jet is quite different from doing it in a prop aeroplane. 'The G is on for much longer, you are covering a lot more airspace when you are doing a loop for instance.”

He took a friend's mum for a ride for her 60^th birthday and her husband told him 'she was buzzing for two weeks after the experience”.

To find out more, see: http://fighterjets.nz/