Queenstown Airport

Queenstown Airport is located in Frankton, Otago, New Zealand, and serves the resort town of Queenstown. The airport is from the Queenstown CBD. The airport handled 2.25 million passengers as of 2018 making it the fourth busiest airport in New Zealand by passenger traffic. The airport consists of two runways, and has a single-level terminal building with nine gates. The airport is known for its attractive scenery and challenging approach to land due to nearby high terrain.

History

Queenstown Airport was first licensed to operate in 1935, but it was not until the 1950s that commercial flights became commonplace, particularly commercial 'flightseeing' operations to Milford Sound. A regular scenic route between Queenstown and Dunedin was first established by Southern Scenic Air Services Ltd on 17 July 1950. Mount Cook Airline was the pioneer of tourist flights into Queenstown.

In the 1960s, the grass runway was lengthened and regular services from Christchurch began on 6 November 1961 operating DC-3s with three flights a week on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday to Queenstown via Mount Cook and onto Te Anau/Manapouri. Services to other domestic destinations soon followed. Later on 14 October 1968, HS-748 aircraft were used, which could carry between 42 and 58 passengers.

A mainstay of the Milford route was the Britten Norman Islander, which began service in September 1970. They were used extensively on the flights to Milford Sound as well as on the Queenstown-Te Anau and Queenstown-Alexandra-Dunedin routes.

Ansett New Zealand introduced the first jet aircraft flights into Queenstown Airport in 1989 using British Aerospace 146 aircraft. Air New Zealand followed in 1992 with Boeing 737-200 aircraft.

In 1995, Air New Zealand landed Queenstown Airport's first trans-Tasman flight from Sydney and more flights quickly followed, mainly bringing skiers during the winter. From then on, an almost continuous expansion programme began in order to cater for passenger and airline demand.

In 2004, Qantas started using RNP AR (Required Navigational Performance, Authorisation Required) for approach to and departure from Queenstown. Full RNP AR flight procedures were introduced by Airways New Zealand in 2012. In June 2015, the airport launched its new international terminal.

In May 2014, both New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) approved Queenstown Airport's foundation safety case for after-dark flights, contingent on the some additional infrastructure, including runway lights, and onboard technology being implemented. On 4 May 2016, the airport's runway lights were officially switched on by transport minister Simon Bridges. The runway lighting allowed the airport to extend operations beyond sunset to its 10:00 pm noise abatement curfew. The first after-dark flight was a Jetstar flight from Melbourne on 24 June 2016.

The airport was voted 'World's Most Scenic Airport Landing' in 2015 by international private jet booking service PrivateFly.

Terminal

Queenstown Airport has a single terminal which handles both international and domestic flights. It has been expanded several times since the 1990s to cope with the introduction of international flights and the rapid increase in passenger numbers. The terminal consists of a single level and does not utilise jet bridges meaning that all access between the terminal and planes entails walking across the apron. An expansion of the international departures area in 2015 included the construction of a mezzanine level to allow for the possible future provision of jet bridges.

Operations

Domestically, Air New Zealand connects Queenstown with Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch while Jetstar Airways operates services to Auckland and Wellington. Auckland & Wellington are serviced with Airbus A320 aircraft, flights to Christchurch are operated by a mix of A320 and ATR 72 aircraft. International flights have grown rapidly over recent years and year-round services operate to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Four airlines operate to these ports: Air New Zealand, Jetstar Airways, Qantas and Virgin Australia. International flights are operated on Airbus A320 or Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The winter season is a very busy one with over 59 direct flights arriving from East Coast Australia on average per week during the peak winter months.

Queenstown Airport is heavily used for tourist 'flightseeing', especially to Milford Sound and Aoraki Mount Cook, and is New Zealand's busiest helicopter port. Weather permitting, there is substantial daily charter traffic of light aircraft (mostly Britten-Norman Islander, Cessna 206, and Cessna 172) to Milford Sound and Te Anau on sightseeing trips. Air Safaris runs a link service to Lake Tekapo Airport. Private jets are also a growing market, both short and long haul, with aircraft now flying direct from north Asia and the West Coast of the United States.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Further upgrades

In July 2011 newly installed runway lights were turned on for the first time. The lighting upgrade was designed to lower diversion rates at the airport due to low visibility. Queenstown is the last major airport in New Zealand to receive such an upgrade. The $2 million project included 34 transformers, 25 km of airfield lighting cable, 124 lights, and was funded by Airways NZ. Until this upgrade, the airport had only Precision Approach Path Indicators (PAPI) available for pilot aid, so flying was limited to daylight hours.

In April 2012 Queenstown Airport opened its new sealed cross-wind runway on the former grass runway; the cost of this project was $800,000 and took 10 months to complete. Sealing the runway reduced the number of disruptions as well as further improved safety."

After announcing expansion plans in 2010, work began in 2014 and the airport opened its new $17 million international terminal on 23 June 2015. The 4,100sqm expansion to the southern end of the terminal building doubled the size of the airport's international operations and features new and improved facilities, products and services. Key features include two new gate lounges which continue the theme of floor-to-ceiling alpine views, a new-look Duty Free store, a state-of-the-art Customs processing area, expanded airside retail outlets, a third baggage carousel and back-of-house handling areas. The new terminal has a mezzanine level on top to enable aerobridges to be included at a later stage.

In November 2015, Queenstown Airport commenced a $17 million series of major airfield infrastructure improvements designed to pave the way for evening flights in winter 2016 and improve overall safety and efficiency of operations.

Strategic partnership with Auckland Airport

On 8 July 2010, Auckland International Airport Limited, the operator of Auckland Airport, announced it had entered into an agreement to take a 24.99% shareholding in Queenstown Airport Corporation Limited and formed a strategic alliance between the two airports. The shareholding cost NZ$27.7 million, through the issue of new shares. The alliance was expected to generate an extra 176,000 passengers through Queenstown Airport.

Auckland Airport has an option to increase its shareholding in Queenstown Airport to 30-35% at any time up to 30 June 2011, subject to the approval of the Queenstown Lakes District Council. The new share capital would allow Queenstown Airport to fund growth of the airport's operating capacity and to pay regular dividends back to the community via the Queenstown Lakes District Council shareholding.

Incidents

On 22 June 2010, a late-running Pacific Blue flight to Sydney took off from Queenstown. At the time, the airport had no runway lights, and the airline mandated a departure curfew of 30 minutes before evening civil twilight, allowing enough time for the aircraft to return to the airport in case of an emergency. The Boeing 737-800 took off on a departure requiring a visual segment, after curfew, and in poor weather. Passengers described a distressing takeoff procedure, with the aircraft flying very low above Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountain terrain. The take-off was deemed an endangerment to the safety of the 70 passengers and crew aboard by the Civil Aviation Authority. Both pilots were suspended over the incident, and in April 2011, the flight's captain was charged under the Civil Aviation Act with unnecessary endangerment. This charge was later reduced to one of a careless use of an aircraft, with a maximum fine of NZ$7,000. In March 2013, the pilot, Roderick Gunn, was found guilty and fined $5,100.

In another separate incident in June 2010 two airliners were found to have had a high potential to have breached the 1000 foot vertical separation required, according to a report by the New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission. Both were Boeing 737 aircraft, one operated by Qantas Airways and the other by Pacific Blue. The report states that whether the minima was breached was not investigated further because in the circumstances it was clear that the potential for such a breach was high and that alone was a safety issue that needed addressing.

Because of the report and other concerns, Airways New Zealand and the Civil Aviation Authority have changed the procedures at Queenstown Airport. Flight paths have been altered for large passenger aircraft along with the innovative use of multilateration air traffic management which both organizations say will ensure this situation is unlikely to be repeated.

See also

* List of airports in New Zealand
* List of airlines of New Zealand
* Transport in New Zealand
* List of busiest airports in New Zealand

References

External links

Official website

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Airports in New Zealand
Transport in Otago
Buildings and structures in Queenstown, New Zealand
Transport buildings and structures in Otago
International airports in New Zealand