Motueka Aerodrome is the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

serving

Motueka Motueka is a town in the South Island of New Zealand, close to the mouth of the Motueka River on the western shore of Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere. It is the second largest in the Tasman Region, with a population of as of The surrounding ...

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 ...

, and is owned and managed by Tasman District Council. The current runway is 729 metres long and 11 metres wide with an asphalt surface. This is an adequate length to operate

Piper Navajo The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin America Latin Ameri ...

aircraft. The aerodrome has no control tower, but hangars and refuelling facilities are available. The following companies operate from Motueka Aerodrome: * Blue Sky Microlight * Motueka Aero Club * Nelson Aviation College * Skydive Abel Tasman * Nelson Tasman Air The runway at Motueka Aerdrome is often used by the Nelson Drag Racing Association for drag racing events. In 1984, Motueka Air started scheduled passenger flights from Motueka to

Wellington, New Zealand 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 a

Piper Aztec The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined light aircraft aimed at the general-aviation market. The United States Navy and military forces in other countries also used it in small numbers. Origin ...

aircraft. Within a couple of years, the Motueka Air network had grown to include Nelson, Wellington and

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

using additional Piper Chieftains. In 1988, Motueka Air was renamed

Air Nelson Air Nelson was a regional airline based in Nelson, New Zealand. It was founded as an independent airline in 1979. Air New Zealand took a 50% shareholding in 1988 and 100% ownership in 1995. Air Nelson operated services on provincial routes under ...

and relocated to Nelson Airport.

Notes

External links

Tasman District Council Motueka Aerodrome

Motueka Aerodrome Management Plan

Top of the South Aviation Motueka Aerodrome
Airports in New Zealand Geography of the Tasman District Motueka Transport in the Tasman District Transport buildings and structures in the Tasman District {{NewZealand-airport-stub