The pair assessed the strategies of the final four teams in last week’s annual SDS Business Case Competition in the resort.
Mr Porter said it was fascinating for them to assess strategies for a business scenario they were both so familiar with, especially given the airport’s release of its draft 30-year master plan the day before.
"We know each other well and we really enjoyed working as judges together on this."
The master plan identifies the need for a new terminal to accommodate passenger movements, which may be capped at five million a year by 2045.
It also raises the possibility Wanaka Airport could be developed as a "dual airport" to take pressure off Queenstown.
For the past nine years, the airport has been seeking to take over 16ha of RPL land beside the airport, in order to expand its facilities.
However, Mr Porter said the draft master plan "significantly narrowed the differences" between RPL and the airport.
"We’ve long argued to them that our focus of where the airport should be going is very much about being able to accommodate the growth of the future volumes of tourists coming into Queenstown.
"So we’re very supportive of them taking a bigger view that they need to expand their terminal."
Mr Porter said the students’ ideas made for a "highly stimulating" afternoon, but the business cases they produced were not entirely realistic because they were given a "very prescribed set of circumstances" to consider.
"It was a hypothetical case study analysis that did not cover everything; for example, it didn’t give them the option of land expansion in Queenstown.
"It was considering how to expand non-aeronautical services in Queenstown and how to take advantage of Wanaka.
"But it’s fair to say they felt there was considerable potential for Wanaka to be used in conjunction with Queenstown Airport."
