Kaikoura Airport is an uncontrolled

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

located southwest of

Kaikōura Kaikōura () is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 1, 180 km north of Christchurch. The town has an estimated permanent resident population of (as of ). The town is the government ...

at Peketa in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

History

The Airport was opened in 1964. It was constructed by council staff at a cost of 4000 pounds. It had an original grass runway of . In 1983, the Kaikoura Aero Club was formed. In late 1995, the runway was sealed for the increased traffic and to protect it from damage caused by rabbits. In 1990–91, Air Charter Ltd operated scheduled flights to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

using

Cessna 210 The Cessna 210 Centurion is a six-seat, high-performance, retractable-gear, single-engined, high-wing general aviation, general-aviation aircraft. First flown in January 1957, it was produced by Cessna until 1986. Design and development ...

aircraft. On 19 July 2004,

Sounds Air Sounds Air is a New Zealand airline based at Picton. The airline was founded in 1986 by Cliff and Diane Marchant to provide low cost flights to the Marlborough Sounds. The airline has a maintenance facility at Omaka aerodrome with its Soun ...

started twice daily services from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

using its Airvan aircraft. But these also ended as of May 2009 as they were not a success. On 21 November 2016, Sounds Air began a temporary daily Monday to Friday air service from Kaikōura to Blenheim and Christchurch, after the main transport links to the town were severed by the

2016 Kaikōura earthquake The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake was a magnitude 7.8 (Mw) earthquake in the South Island of New Zealand that occurred two minutes after midnight on 14 November 2016 NZDT (11:02 on 13 November UTC). Ruptures occurred on multiple faults and the e ...

. The service was planned to run for at least three weeks, using the company's

Cessna Caravan The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargomas ...

. It was extended to the end of December 2017. Wings Over Whales, a scenic flight operator based at

offers whale watching and other charter flights.

Air Kaikoura Air Kaikoura is a small New Zealand airline offering scenic flights with light aircraft in the Kaikōura area. It also operates charter services around New Zealand. The company was founded in 1983. They saw the potential with Whale watching fig ...

flew scheduled services to

from 15 May 2020 using a

GA-8 Airvan The Mahindra Airvan 8 (formerly the GippsAero GA8 Airvan 8) is a single-engined utility aircraft manufactured by GippsAero (formerly named Gippsland Aeronautics) of Victoria, Australia. It can seat up to eight people, including the pilot. The ...

which could take seven passengers. The service was discontinued in February 2021 due to lack of demand. File:Kaikoura Airport terminal building.jpg, The new Kaikoura airport building log cabin style in 2016 File:Kaikoura airfield, Canterbury, New Zealand, June 2007 - Flickr - PhillipC.jpg, Kaikoura airfield, Canterbury, New Zealand, June 2007

Operational information

* Airfield elevation:

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

* Runway 05/23:

bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

PCN 18 * Runway 05/23: grass ESWL 1090 The aerodrome is operated by Kaikōura District Council and is available for general use without the permission of the operator.

References

Airports in New Zealand Transport in Canterbury, New Zealand Kaikōura Transport buildings and structures in Canterbury, New Zealand {{NewZealand-airport-stub

History

Operational information

See also

References