Queenstown Airport chief executive Steve Sanderson told the Otago Daily Times yesterday construction on the $2 million project funded by the Airways Corporation began on the northern end of the runway about four weeks ago.
On completion, 34 transformer chambers will be connected to a total of 118 lights, using 24km of cabling, on either side and at both ends of the runway.
It was an Airways capital project, but the company would recoup the investment through landing fees over time.
Queenstown Airport would fund any additional lighting required, for example apron lighting.
Mr Sanderson said getting to this point had taken three years and was "a real achievement".
"I think we've always been working on getting runway lights into Queenstown Airport. It's the only airport in New Zealand without runway lights, and it's the fourth-largest.
"It's quite an exciting moment to put those runway lights in."
About five contractors from Fulton Hogan Central had been working on the project, working through the day on the transformer chambers and through the night on the cabling and light installations.
The "added advantage" of the lights meant the airport could maximise its daylight operations and it would enable aircraft to land up until 10pm. However, that was not expected to occur before next winter.
Mr Sanderson expected the lights would particularly help aircraft which were not fitted with required navigation performance (RNP) technology.
"For jets with RNP, the diversion rate is less than 1% ... an aircraft using RNP pops out of the cloud about 600 feet above the runway and when it's lit up it's going to improve [the visibility]."
ATR aircraft were not fitted with RNP technology and the diversion rate for those planes was about 4% and Mr Sanderson expected the lighting to reduce that number.
With regard to night flights, Mr Sanderson said there was still a process to go through with the Civil Aviation Authority and airlines. The airport has resource consent to operate until 10pm.
"To do night [flights] the airlines do need to put together an operational plan and mitigate some of the identified risk.
"We would expect the earliest we would see night operations [would be] winter 2012."
The runway end safety area was also expected to be completed in June.
