No cohesion in airport planning, Air NZ says

Proposed changes to the future operation of Wanaka Airport have drawn disapproval from Air New Zealand, which, as the country's dominant airline, wants consultation privileges.

Air NZ is concerned at how the Queenstown Lakes District Council "appears" to be treating its airports in Wanaka and Queenstown "entirely independently in terms of future planning".

The council is moving plan change 26 to increase the runway and future-proof the operational capacity of facilities at Wanaka Airport.

Council senior policy analyst Ralph Henderson said 17 public submissions had been made to it during a consultation period that closed last week.

The aim of plan change 26 is to "safeguard the use and future operation of the Wanaka Airport" and the council is moving to change several planning-law designations at the ratepayer-owned asset.

A submission from Air NZ has criticised several aspects of the plan change because, it says, the council's proposal does not "cohesively" consider the use and development of the region's two airports.

While the national airline supports some objectives of the council's plan change, it is critical about the need to expand facilities at Wanaka.

"The use of each airport is interrelated.

Queenstown Airport is currently undergoing a significant expansion ...

Accordingly, [Air NZ] does not consider that possible congestion at Queenstown or hypothetical organic growth at Wanaka justifies the purported `need' for proposed increase in Wanaka's Airport infrastructure."

A "real possibility" would have been to relocate much of the general aviation at Queenstown to Wanaka, given the council and the Queenstown Airport Corporation's considerable investment in expanding facilities at the Wakatipu gateway terminal.

Queenstown Airport was already a very high cost destination for airlines.

"Further investigation should be given to assessing how Wanaka Airport could provide ancillary support (a logical role), rather than considering the future development of Wanaka in an (apparently) isolated fashion," Air NZ's submission states.

However, a submission from the Wanaka Chamber of Commerce has called for more "safeguarding" measures to be installed as part of the council plan change to ensure the future development of the airport.

"The airport represents an important physical resource which is expected to play a key role in the growth of business and tourism in the Wanaka Basin," the chamber's vice-president, Alistair King, said in a submission.

Air NZ subsidiary carrier Eagle Air increased its flights into Wanaka in September last year for a "trial" period - a move that is backed by the chamber and Lake Wanaka Tourism as a key component for the resort's growth.

The council is scheduled to hold a public hearing for plan change 26 at a yet to be decided date.

 

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