The powers would see at least four designated airport staff issued "warrants" by the council, allowing them to operate as parking wardens on land owned by the airport company.
The powers were approved at the council's finance and strategy committee meeting yesterday, following an approach by the airport company.
Final approval is needed from the next full council meeting on July 6.
Not one councillor voted against the suggestion at yesterday's meeting.
If the move is approved, airport staff were likely to be operating as wardens within six months, airport chief executive John McCall told the Otago Daily Times.
The new powers would allow staff to enforce the airport's parking restrictions and speed limits, as well as police the misuse of disability parks and inconsiderate parking, he said.
The wardens could issue tickets anywhere inside the airport boundary, including inside the gated parking area and outside the terminal building, he said.
At present, the company sets its own rules under bylaws approved by the Ministry of Transport, but could not enforce them by issuing tickets, he said.
"All the signs are up . . . but the actual people who enforce the law and write out the ticket, we actually haven't got that at the moment," he said.
Council development services manager Kevin Thompson told the ODT the council's existing parking wardens did not have jurisdiction to operate on airport property, and it would be impractical for them to travel to the airport to operate.
The "gap" in enforcement powers at the airport was due to an anomaly in the Transport Act 1962, which some airports avoided by towing and clamping vehicles, rather than issuing infringement notices, he said.
However, Dunedin International Airport was following the lead of Auckland Airport, which already had an agreement with Manukau City Council to issue infringement notices, he said.
The size of the fines was set by statute and would be the same as those issued by council wardens within the city centre, Mr Thompson told yesterday's meeting.
Mr McCall believed the new powers would be a positive step, targeting those who disrupted traffic flows.
"You can see it every day here.
"You get people abandoning their car right outside the terminal building . . . and wandering around inside the terminal.
"We don't talk about policemen or wardens.
"We talk about customer service . . . and doing it in the interest of customer service."
