Runway length not holding DIAL back

Dunedin Airport chief executive officer Richard Roberts (left) and chairman Tony Allison. PHOTO: LINDA ROBERTSON

The adage "build it and they will come" does not, apparently, extend to airport runways.

Extensions to the Dunedin airport's (DIAL) landing strip is a longstanding bone of contention - and of course the question had to be asked.

"It's not currently on the radar," was the curt response.

Translated to: Coldplay may have to wait a while before they can land their 747s here.

To be fair, Pink, Ed Sheeran and the Eagles managed to wing their way to Dunedin without an elongated landing strip, generating an estimated $50million for the local economy in the process.

"We haven't been presented with any overwhelming business case for investing in runway extensions," says Dunedin Airport chief executive Richard Roberts.

He does admit, however, that it wouldn't be a stretch to add to the 1900m runway, currently rated for aircraft sized up to the Boeing 767.

"We have consent to go to 2245m and runway length hasn't really constrained our growth or that of Queenstown, which has passenger numbers over 2 million.

"In fact, unlike Dunedin, Queenstown isn't able to extend their landing capacity."

He said that contrary to the expectation of ever increasing aircraft sizes, Air New Zealand was configuring its fleet to smaller - and potentially electrically propelled - aircraft.

"Airlines are well advanced in their trials of new propulsion technologies and that will have implications for our ground and flight operations," he said.

Dunedin Airport chairman Tony Allison, who this month marked his first year as head of the DIAL board, said the company and its shareholders - the DCHL and the Crown - were comfortable with its current and planned capacity.

"Because we can do it doesn't mean we must just on the possibility that bigger planes will come."

He said the focus was rather on ensuring the runway and its airside pavement was well maintained.

"Ultimately, our operations extend well beyond our on-tarmac operations. As the gateway to the region we are part of an overall visitor economy and we put a lot of effort in working with pretty much the region's entire tourism offering, to promote Dunedin and Otago as a destination that is engineered for longer term demand."

He said DIAL was also working closely with tourism entities from Waitaki through to Southland and the Lakes region, to promote the airport's link into Queensland as a destination.

Mr Roberts admitted, however, that transtasman passenger numbers had remained under pressure and had come down nominally this past year.

"The frequency of our Brisbane services will always affect volume and our market presence, so we communicate with Virgin Australia regularly to monitor passenger numbers and to discuss potential growth opportunities on both the existing services and new Tasman services."

However, with domestic growth on an upwards cycle and expected to hit 1.7 million within the next 15 years, the airport had committed to an extensive refurbishment, spending $14 million all up on adding 1200sq m to the terminal - including a much larger security screening area - and 200 more car parks.

The new terminal is expected to be fully open by March next year.

The expansion is an important part of catering for the airport's non-aero income stream, which equates to around 58% of overall revenue, largely via retailers, parking and advertising revenue. Last year that brought in a combined $10 million, versus $7.5 million for aero-based returns.

"Ultimately, it still comes down to foot traffic, but also relates to our profile as a regional supply line into airports such as Auckland," Mr Roberts said.

"For example, our car park was at capacity and our retailers were busy this past week because of an event in Auckland, so it's not just about bringing big events into our city."

Mr Allison said the airport had also cultivated a close association with the university, and particularly the student association.

"The student market is undeniably important to us. Students are very mobile, traveling an estimated four times more than city residents and they are often event driven, so we tend to work very closely with the airlines across their campaigns - for example the take your laundry home campaign."

Outside of the terminal and parking operations DIAL's footprint is extensive, with income accruing from 29 rental homes in a housing estate adjacent to the airport as well as two 100ha farms, run by sharemilkers contracted to Fonterra.

The airport's total Momona land holdings amount to 290ha.

Says Mr Roberts: "We live and operate in a great place and we're all deeply proud of our role and place in our economy. But it's a collaborative effort. We're part of the overall offering of the city and the region, so the team does a hell of a lot behind the scenes to make sure we're tapped into the full story."

Coldplay notwithstanding.