Oamaru Airport is an airport located 20 km north of

Oamaru Oamaru (; mi, Te Oha-a-Maru) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the railway ...

alongside

State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbere ...

, at Hilderthorpe in the

North Otago North Otago in New Zealand covers the area of Otago between Shag Point and the Waitaki River, and extends inland to the west as far as the village of Omarama (which has experienced rapid growth as a developing centre for astronomy and for glid ...

region and the

Waitaki District Waitaki District is a territorial authority district that is located in the Canterbury and Otago regions of the South Island of New Zealand. It straddles the traditional border between the two regions, the Waitaki River, and its seat is Oamaru. ...

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

On 10 December 1960 South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand commenced a

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

service linking Oamaru north to Timaru and Christchurch and south to Alexandra and Invercargill. Later a stop in

Gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manitouli ...

was added. These flights ended on 28 February 1966. Later that day

Mount Cook Airlines Mount Cook Airline was a regional airline based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Formerly part of the Mount Cook Group and latterly a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, it operated scheduled services throughout the country under the Air New Zealand L ...

took over also using DC-3 aircraft, serving Timaru and Christchurch. In October 1968 Mount Cook Airline began using the 52 seater HS-748 aircraft into Oamaru. A new sealed runway at the Oamaru Airport was passed as fully operational in March 1975. Regular scheduled services were withdrawn in 1989. In 2005 the

Waitaki District Council Waitaki District Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Waitaki) is the territorial authority for the Waitaki District of New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two ...

decided to reseal the main runway. When scheduled services resumed in 2006 and the first BAe Jetstream 32EP arrived from Christchurch (operated by

Air National Air National was an airline based in Auckland, New Zealand. It operated domestic and international charter services and scheduled passenger services for Air New Zealand Link. Its main bases were Auckland International Airport History Air Na ...

on behalf of

Eagle Airways Eagle Airways was a regional airline based in Hamilton, New Zealand and was wholly owned by Air New Zealand, operating regional services under the Air New Zealand Link brand. The airline was disbanded on 26 August 2016, with staff absorbed int ...

) a crowd of approximately 500 people were present to view its landing. The aircraft operating the inaugural service was renamed ''The Spirit of Waitaki'' in honour of the reintroduction of services to Oamaru. However, regular commercial flights to Oamaru were again withdrawn on 1 January 2010.

Aero Club

The North Otago Aero Club has been operating from the Oamaru Airport since 1956, and operated South Island based charter flights until 2019. Currently they offer flight training towards a Private Pilots License in a Cessna 172N or can do local area based trial flights.

Timeline of services

The town has been through a lot of hurdles to gain then lose its air service forcing residents to either travel south to Dunedin or north to Timaru to catch a flight. *1975: NAC (later

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...

) begins flights to

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 ...

via

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

using

Fokker Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...

aircraft. *1 April 1990: Air New Zealand ends Fokker Friendship flights to Oamaru. *23 April 1990: Air Nelson takes over flights with Metroliner aircraft. *28 October 1991:

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 ...

ends flights and Oamaru is left without a commercial air service. *1991-2006: Various options explored to reinstate air service. *2005-2006:

spends about $500,000 upgrading runway, terminal building and other facilities. *2006: Waitaki Mayor Alan McLay starts negotiations for a new air service. *20 June 2006:

announces a new service 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 its Beech 1900 and occasionally

Jetstream 32 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the Britis ...

aircraft were used. *7 August 2006: First Beech 1900 flight lands at Oamaru to be greeted by about 120 people. *18 May 2009: Eagle Airways changes schedule amid fears service is in financial trouble. *13 October 2009: Eagle Airways announces service will end from 1 January 2010. *1 January 2010: After making an announcement in October 2009, Eagle Airways withdraws service from Oamaru. *4 June 2014:

Mainland Air Mainland Air is a general aviation, flight training and air charter company operating out of Dunedin International Airport in New Zealand. History Mainland Air was established in 1991 by Queenstown businessman Christopher Kelliher. From 1995 t ...

commences their short lived scheduled flights to Christchurch which ended in August.

References

Notes

* NZ AIP Volume 3 or 4, NZOU AD 2

External links