Kāpiti Airport closed following threat on social media

Sunday, 13 December 2020

George Jenkins, from Kāpiti hapū Puketapu, on what the land at Kāpiti Coast Airport means to him and other descendants of the original owners, who are fighting to get it back. (First published September 2020)

Kāpiti Airport shut down suddenly on Sunday following a threat made on social media, compounding the challenges facing the airport, which will be shut for several hours each day during the next seven weeks because of a “severe” shortage of specialist staff.

The airport was alerted to the “potential security event” on Sunday morning, with the facility closed to air traffic about midday, said an airport spokeswoman. She could not comment on the nature of the threat or which platform it was made on.

“We take the safety and security of our staff, Airways’ staff, and the public seriously' she said.

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An aerial of view of Kāpiti Coast Airport, which has drastically reduced its operating hours for the next seven weeks.

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“As such, as a precautionary measure, the tower and runway were closed while police investigated. Police have since deemed any threat to be low-risk,” she said.

Police received a report regarding concerning social media commentary directed at Kāpiti Airport on Sunday morning, a spokeswoman said. It made the decision to close as a precaution and an investigation into the comments was ongoing, she said.

This occurred a day after the airport, which is usually open for more than 13 hours on weekdays during summer, on Saturday began restricting operating hours. It will close for about six to seven hours on most weekdays and for a few hours on Saturdays until February 1.

Several sources have been claiming for months that Kāpiti Coast Airport is set to close. Its owner says no such decision has been made.

Emergency services will still be able to use the airport, located at Paraparaumu, a 45-minute drive north of Wellington, when it's closed.

The reduction in operating hours over summer follows months of speculation that NZPropCo, which currently owns the airport, plans to close it.

However, NZPropCo said it was yet to make a decision about the airport's future and was considering “a range of options”.

A NZPropCo spokeswoman said that since a triple-fatal aircraft crash at the aerodrome in 2008, it had been required by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to operate an aerodrome flight information service (AFIS).

AFIS workers are based in the control tower at the airport and provide pilots with information, such as whether other planes are taking off or landing, via radio.

New Zealand’s air navigation service provider Airways employs four AFIS staff who are based at Kāpiti Airport.

Two of them had recently resigned. Replacement staff had been hired but were still being trained.

NZPropCo said it was working with Airways to minimise the impact of the staffing shortage, but in order to meet its safety obligations, it was forced to close when there were no AFIS staff on shift.

Mayor of Kāpiti, K (Guru) Gurunathan has been advocating fo the Kāpiti Airport to remain open, and for the land to be returned to local hapū.

The reduction in operating hours coincides with the busiest time of year for the Kāpiti Aeroclub, which is based at the airport. The aeroclub said it stood to lose a “significant” amount of money because of the closures.

Kāpiti Aeroclub president Tony Quayle said his understanding was that the airport should be able to operate as usual if it advised the CAA of the staffing issue as at such a small airport pilots could communicate with each other via radio rather than rely on AFIS.

Kāpiti mayor K Gurunathan, a longtime supporter of keeping the airport open, agreed.

He said independent aviation experts had told him the airport did not require AFIS: “This is not a busy airport.”

The mayor worried that the reduction in operating hours was the beginning of the end for the airport.

“It's death by a thousand cuts,” he said.

But NZPropCo said it wasn't that simple.

'Continuing to operate in this situation – whereby AFIS is sometimes off watch when normally they would be on watch – would be a breach of our existing safety obligations,' a spokeswoman told Stuff.

Quayle said flight training brought it $140,000 in revenue for the aeroclub between December 12 and February 1 last summer.

This year had been a “really good year” for the organisation and it had been forecasting an income of $160,000 for the same period this year.

However, after the airport had reduced operating hours it expected to earn much less.

The CAA did not respond to repeated requests for comment.