Christchurch Airport's Central Otago expansion plan new international option

Wednesday, 22 July 2020

Air New Zealand planes line up at Queenstown Airport, which could be competing with a new airport in Central Otago.

Christchurch Airport is eyeing up the Queenstown tourist market, announcing plans to build a terminal with international flight capacity just an hour up the road.

The airport company said on Wednesday discussions were under way for a “world-class sustainable airport” on 750 hectares of land near Tarras in Central Otago.

About $45 million has been spent on the project to date, which includes buying the land bordered by state highways 8 and 8A.

Chief executive Malcolm Johns said the concept was to start with a 2.2 kilometre runway jets would be able to land on.

Christchurch Airport CEO Malcolm Johns doesn’t expect to see the first planes fly into Tarras, and likens his plan to planting a tree whose shade he’ll never get to enjoy.

* Architects propose selling Queenstown Airport for $1.6b and building anew in Central Otago

It was planned to be built in modules so it could “start small and grow to meet any future need”. It could be operational between five and 15 years cost hundreds of millions to build.

An indicative map of where the new airport at Tarras could be located.

A 2.2km runway would allow planes up to the size of the Airbus A320, which carries about 180 passengers, to land.

It would be too short for larger long-haul jets such as the 300-plus seat Boeing 777 or 500-plus seat Airbus A380, which would need a runway up to 3km long.

Johns said Christchurch Airport had long seen the potential for a new airport in Central Otago, which would provide widespread social and economic benefits across the South Island.

Tarras is just over an hour's drive from Queenstown and just under half an hour from Wānaka. The town shot to fame in 2004 when Shrek the sheep, belonging to Bendigo Station, made headlines for avoiding being caught and shorn for six years.

Work on the proposal started before the coronavirus pandemic affected international travel, but Johns said Covid-19 “doesn't change too much of this proposal, except the timeframes”.

The proposal was “exceptionally good news” for Christchurch ratepayers, who were the majority shareholder in Christchurch Airport, Johns said.

'It's really cool for the whole South Island. We can look to the next 50 years with optimism.'

Increasing tourism numbers in Central Otago have to lead to debate around air travel in the region. (Video first published in October 2018)

It became clear last year Queenstown airport was not large enough to cope with forecast growth in tourist numbers, especially from Asia, and new infrastructure was needed.

Tarras was chosen after consultation with an aviation expert, he said.

Johns was confident tourists would return and exporters of the perishable goods such as lobsters and cherries would need international air links.

The earthquakes had dealt a seven-year blow to Christchurch Airport and it had survived. Covid-19 was likely only a three-year hurdle.

Johns said the airport’s top priority was to talk to the Tarras community that lived close to the site.

“This is their home and it’s important they are given the opportunity to ask us their questions directly and understand our thinking.”

Christchurch Airport is 75 per cent owned by the Christchurch City Council and 25 per cent by the Government.

Shrek the Sheep has helped put Tarras on the map.

MAYORS ‘SURPRISED’ BY TARRAS PLANS

Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said the announcement came as a surprise and while he regarded it as a strong vote of confidence in the district, he believed there would be a lot of opposition.

“In the past we’ve had a lot of comments from Tarras residents that they do not want an airport in their district.”

Boult, a former chief executive of Christchurch Airport, said it would take many years for any airport to come to fruition.

“I would say there is a long distance between buying a piece of land and creating an airport.

“To my knowledge since the RMA (Resource Management Act) has been enacted there has not been a new airport [built].”

Boult did not want to speculate on how long he expected the resource consent process to take, but said the “degree of difficulty will be high”.

When asked if Queenstown and the new airport could co-exist, Boult said Queenstown would always have an advantage because of its proximity to the town.

Tarras, a small town in Central Otago, is the likely site of a new airport.

The road between Tarras and Queenstown included a gorge, which sometimes had a lot of ice on it in winter, he said.

Central Otago District mayor Tim Cadogan said the announcement was “sudden and surprising”.

“There will be a degree of opposition to that right from the outset.”

The possibility of an airport in the area had been talked about as a possibility in the past but it had never been more than that.

Cadogan said he did not want to speak for or against the development.

“There’s a lot of pros and a lot of cons. People will feel quite passionate in both directions.”

He was aware multiple properties had been purchased by the airport company and for that to happen without word escaping into the community was rare.

John Harris, co-owner of the Māori Point Vineyard in Tarras, said the long, open valley was prone to heavy winter fog.

Tarras is a small township in Central Otago.

'We always get a few every year. This year we have had more than a month of dawn-to-dusk fog.”

Harris and wife Marilyn Duxson planted their vineyard in 2002.

He said he did not want an airport there and might oppose the plan on environmental grounds.

'Kawarau Gorge Rd isn't going to accommodate any more traffic. It's a narrow, winding, icy road. It would cost a fortune to upgrade it.'

Matthew Robinson, who owns Mrs Robinson, a “vintageware, fabric, furniture and fancies” shop on the main road of Tarras, said the airport was “fantastic” news.

“It’s very positive, especially in these times. It shows there is a future in travel and in the tourism industry – something we rely on quite heavily.”

The news came as a surprise to locals, he said.

“There has been talk of another airport in the region because Queenstown has issues, but we didn’t know about the Tarras land purchase.”

‘PIE IN THE SKY’, AVIATION EXPERT SAYS

Aviation expert Peter Clark described the plan as 'pie in the sky' and said there was no need for a new airport.

In Queenstown, passengers could arrive and be on the skifield within two hours of getting off the plane.

'Queenstown is an airport that suits the situation and we have a back-up airport at Wanaka, which does need a bit of work to allow slightly larger aircraft.

'Queenstown, as it stands, can operate larger aircraft like the A321 Airbus and it's had the 757 and it's a practical airport for tourism.'

ChristchurchNZ chief executive Joanna Norris did not expect the move would be detrimental to the city, in that tourists might have another way of bypassing Christchurch to reach Central Otago.

“This is really positive for the South Island and Christchurch naturally benefits from that.

“We see that this gives greater opportunity to fly into the international airport in Christchurch, tour the South Island, which we know people want to do, and then exit from the facility that will in-time be built at Tarras, or equally go the other way.”

Acting Christchurch mayor Andrew Turner said he looked forward to understanding how the opportunity could be developed for the benefit of the whole of the South Island.

The proposal was clearly a commercial opportunity developed by the airport company based on a 'strategic rationale'.

'There are a number of conversations which need to take place, and it is important to note that this is just the very beginning of that,' he said.

NEW AIRPORT A ‘LONG-TERM PROPOSITION’

Queenstown Airport acting chair Adrienne Young-Cooper said a “greenfield airport development, by its very nature, is a long-term proposition”.

She said Queenstown Airport had paused its long term planning while the district council and Government finished district spatial planning work that included infrastructure planning and assessment of the impacts of airport development.

Air New Zealand has previously called for a new Central Otago airport in response to booming tourist numbers, raising concerns Queenstown Airport could reach capacity by late-2021. However, this was before coronavirus affected international tourism.

In 2019, about 2.4 million transited through Queenstown Airport – a 7 per cent increase on the year before. Passenger numbers have increased by between 4 and 20 per cent every year since 2005.

Last year, Queenstown architects Gillian Macleod and David Jerram suggested a new airport be built in the Tarra-Cromwell Basin and the existing Queenstown Airport be redeveloped for housing.

Macleod said on Wednesday the plan would solve the problems of noise and growth expansion at Queenstown.

Access to Queenstown could be resolved with improved public transport from the new airport, she said.

'Most of the people that ski in Europe accept a two-hour transfer. I don't that's going to be the issue that people think it is.”

Expansion has also been discussed for Wānaka Airport but a report found it would need 3.14 million annual passengers to justify the $400m investment that would be required – more passengers than Queenstown Airport gets currently.

Queenstown Airport Corporation operates Queenstown and Wānaka airports on behalf of shareholders the Queenstown Lakes District Council (75.01 per cent) and Auckland Airport (24.99 per cent).