Wellington Airport
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Template:Airport end frame Wellington International Airport (IATA: WLG, ICAO: NZWN) is an international airport located on the Rongotai isthmus, 7 km southeast of central Wellington, New Zealand's capital city.
It is a major domestic hub, and provides air links to the major cities of Australia. In 2005 it served 4.6 million passengers.
The airport occupies a total of 110-hectares [1], a small area of land for the number of passengers it handles.
History
The current site opened in 1959, previously being further north, at Paraparaumu. The original length of the runway was 1630 m (5350 ft)[1], which was extended to its current length of 1936 m in the early 1970s to handle DC8s.
Wellington Airport's original domestic terminal was built, as a temporary measure, inside a corrugated iron hangar, originally used to assemble de Havilland aircraft, and was not replaced for many decades. It was known for being overcrowded, leaky and drafty. An upgrade of the domestic terminal, originally budgeted at NZ$10 million, was announced in 1981, but by 1983 the plans were shelved after cost projections more than doubled. [2] The terminal was extensively refurbished in 1986 by Air New Zealand, as Ansett New Zealand built a new terminal (extension to the international terminal) when it commenced competing domestic air services in 1986.
In 1991, the airport released plans to widen the taxiway to CAA AC139-06a specifications and acquire extra space[2], which were abandoned after protests from local residents. The plan, had it proceeded, would have involved the removal of the nearby Miramar Golf Course and a large number of residential and commercial properties.[3] The Airport did, however, purchase additional land from the Miramar Golf Course in 1994 for car park space.
As recently as 1992, several alternate sites for Wellington Airport were considered - Te Horo, Paraparaumu, Mana Island, Ohariu Valley, Horokiwi, Wairarapa and Pencarrow. [3] In the end, a decision was made to upgrade the existing site at Rongotai. A major new terminal was eventually completed in 1999 and integrated with the international terminal (which had been built as an abortive first stage of a whole new terminal in 1979), and construction is under way to lengthen the south end of the 1936-metre runway by 90 m, in order to come within compliance with ICAO safety regulations. An extension of the runway's north end has also been confirmed as of October 2006. [4]
Since 1998 the airport has been two-thirds privately owned by Infratil, with the remaining third owned by the Wellington City Council.
In late 2003 the airport installed a large statue of Gollum on the terminal in order to promote the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Ongoing issues and development
The shortness of the runway has limited the size of aircraft that could service the airport and as a result the possible overseas destinations that could be served from Wellington Airport to a small number of destinations in Australasia. A full-length runway extension, to accommodate long-haul aircraft such as the Boeing 747, has been investigated in the past [4][5][6][2][7], but would require highly expensive land reclamation into Lyall Bay, and massive breakwater protection from Cook Strait. Doubts exist over the viability of such an undertaking, particularly as Air New Zealand has shown no interest in providing international service beyond Australia and the Pacific Island, and no international airlines have shown serious interest in providing services beyond those points.
Despite the runway limitations, Qantas operated the 747SP on regular flights between Wellington and Australia during the first half of the 1980s, which were later replaced by Boeing 767s. [5] [6]
The international terminal - partially built by the now-defunct Ansett New Zealand in 1986 - is being upgraded between 2005 and 2007, in anticipation of the entry into service of the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350. These aircraft could fly long-haul from a short runway like that at Wellington, opening up the possibility of direct air links to Asia and the Americas if commercially viable. [7] Regional business organisations and the airport have put forward their case to various international airlines for long-haul operations to and from Wellington. [8] [9] There are also plans for expanding retail operations [10], as well as building a hotel above the carpark. [11] [12]
Air New Zealand has repeatedly indicated that it has no interest in pursuing long-haul passenger operations from Wellington. This has been re-emphasised by its withdrawal from the Auckland-Singapore and the Christchurch-Los Angeles routes. Conversely, Wellington business leaders point out that Christchurch's economy is mainly industrial and agricultural, while arguing that Wellington's economy is based mainly on what they see as the higher-value civil service, financial, ICT, and creative sectors. It has also been pointed out that while Air NZ has been scaling back certain routes, it is adding others, most notably Auckland-Shanghai from 6 November, 2006; and extending its Auckland-Hong Kong service to London Heathrow.
In April 2006, Air New Zealand and Qantas announced that they would enter into a codeshare agreement, arguing that it would be necessary in order to reduce empty seats and financial losses on trans-Tasman routes. The Airport counter-argued that the codeshare would stifle competition and passenger growth on Wellington's international flights, pointing to what it saw as a market duopoly dominated by Air New Zealand and Qantas. [13] The codeshare was eventually abandoned by the two airlines, after it was rejected in a draft ruling by the ACCC in November 2006. [14]
Incidents
In spite of the short runway and frequent winds, there have been very few safety incidents at the airport. However, in 1991 a United Airlines Boeing 747 made an unscheduled landing after its original destination, Christchurch Airport, was closed by fog. [8] [15] Although the plane landed safely, all passengers and freight had to be offloaded before it was able to take off again.
Airlines and destinations
- air2there (Blenheim, Nelson, Paraparaumu)
- Air Chathams (Chatham Islands - Tuuta)
- Air New Zealand (Auckland, Blenheim, Brisbane, Christchurch, Dunedin, Gisborne, Hamilton, Melbourne, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Queenstown [seasonal], Rotorua, Sydney, Taupo, Tauranga, Timaru, Wanganui [begins 12 Feb. 2007], Westport, Whangarei)
- Qantas
- Qantas operated by JetConnect (Auckland, Brisbane, Christchurch, Melbourne, Rotorua, Sydney)
- Pacific Blue (Brisbane)
- Sounds Air (Kaikoura, Picton)
- Air West Coast (Greymouth, Westport)
- Freedom Air (Gold Coast, Nadi)
Former airlines include:
References
- ^ Wellington City Airport - Wellington City Council Official Brochure and Programme, 1959.
- ^ a b Wellington International Airport Ltd Draft Master Plan (Technical Solutions), Airplan NZ, 1991.
- ^ Birth of an airport, Juliet O'Connor, Evening Post, 14 June 1999, p5.
- ^ Wellington's Airport: The Costs & Benefits of Alternative Developments, C. Gillson, NZIER, 1970.
- ^ Study of the Development of Wellington Airport, W. D. Scott & Co (NZ) Ltd, December 1979.
- ^ Wellington International Airport Master Plan, J.H. Fyson, Wellington City Council Works Department, 1985.
- ^ Horizons Manawatu Fact Sheet/Background Information for Cargo Hub Report, 2002, p4.
- ^ The Dominion, 9 Oct 1991, p.3; The Dominion, 24 June 1999, p3
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