No new carrier waiting in the wings for Hamilton Airport…yet

Tuesday, 6 August 2024

Airport officials have confirmed no new international carrier is heading to Hamilton in the near future.

Rumours Hamilton Airport is lining up a new international carrier to fly in and out of the city are just that, according to airport chief executive Mark Morgan.

A recent social media conversation alluded that a number of different international players were thinking of heading to Hamilton, including Fiji Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and China Airlines, after locals spotted Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) and Aviation Security staff doing the rounds.

While Morgan said he would not comment on any negotiations the airport was having with international airlines, he said the airport still takes private international flights and “we still do require port of arrival technical inspections”.

Hamilton Airport chief executive Mark Morgan said private international flights still use the airport, but rumours another international carrier will be coming are just rumours.

He said a major announcement like this would have been made publicly.

He said eagle-eyed observers could have also mistaken the training of a new MPI sniffer dog, which had been happening on site, as a move toward opening up a new international connection.

An MPI spokesperson said for commercial reasons, “we can’t comment at this stage”.

But, Hamilton City councillor Ewan Wilson, the former Kiwi Airlines owner, said the airport had already lost an opportunity with a “credible“ international carrier due to the fact the airport had let its international accreditation lapse.

Wilson said this was discussed publicly in May, when a lack of border agency facilities at the airport meant the company hadn’t been able to respond quickly to recent trans-Tasman interest in renewing international flights.

“From my point of view, Hamilton will get more international flights, the only question is when.”

He said the airport needed to be ready to go when an international carrier approached it.

“Hamilton is a strategic location and we should have been ready for the inevitable knock on the door.

“I would be astonished if there were not some very big sized fish swimming around the bait.”

Wilson said the more obvious carriers would be JetStar or Virgin and he understood talks to get border agencies operating back at the airport were already happening.

“But these airlines wont wait, so we need to be ready for them.”