Hawke's Bay Airport , commonly referred to as Napier Airport, is

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

's main commercial

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

, serving domestic flights to the main centres of

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Wellington Wellington 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

and

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, and smaller centres such as Gisborne. The airport is located in the north of Napier and 20.7 km from Hastings. 452,000 travellers passed through the terminal in the 12 months to June 2013. This increased to 652,426 in the 12 months to June 2017.

General

Hawke's Bay Airport is in Westshore, a suburb of Napier, and is sometimes referred to as Napier Airport. It is sited on the former Ahuriri Lagoon, an area that was raised above sea level by the

1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake The 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, also known as the Napier earthquake, occurred in New Zealand at 10:47am on 3 February, killing 256,The exact number of deaths varies according to different sources; the ''New Zealand Listener'' article cited be ...

. The airport is permitted to allow limited international flights for aircraft with up to fourteen people on board by prior arrangement with Air Napier or Skyline Aviation.

Hastings Aerodrome Hastings Aerodrome is a small airport in Hastings, New Zealand, Hastings, Hawke's Bay Region, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. It is sometimes referred to as Bridge Pa Aerodrome. It is owned and operated by the Hawke's Bay & East Coast Aero Club Inc ...

is another, smaller airport, 22 km to the south near

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, used primarily for flight training and recreational aviation, which Hawke's Bay Airport does not offer.

History

The previous airport in Napier was the Embankment Aerodrome, which was started in 1932 and located near the Napier end of the Napier–Westshore road and rail embankment. The Napier Airport Board was formed in 1935 and the borough of Napier became owner of the aerodrome. While work was being done to bring it up to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) standards, an alternative airfield was needed, so one was created near the shipping beacons between Westshore and Bay View. It was then realised that the Beacons Aerodrome had more space for further development, so the airport board made it Napier's main airport. It was chosen as Hawke's Bay's main airport in 1944. The CAA confirmed it as the airport for Hawke's Bay in 1957, but Hastings leaders objected, preferring to have an airport closer to their city. The Government set up an Airport Inquiry Committee in 1961 to settle the matter. They again confirmed the Beacons as the best option, and recommended the building of a Napier–Hastings motorway to provide quick access from Hastings. A new runway was built and Hawke's Bay Airport officially opened in February 1964.Campbell (1975). pp. 204–206. In 2010/11 the main runway was extended to 1750 metres with 240-metre Runway End Safety Areas at either end, which is long enough to accommodate jet services operated by

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 28 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily within the Pacific Rim. The airline h ...

on domestic operations (

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aircraft). A terminal reconfiguration, along with a full-scale security fence, would be required before scheduled domestic jet services could commence. At this stage further development to enable trans-Tasman services is not planned. Hawke's Bay Airport has received resource consent from the Napier City Council to begin Stage 1 of a significant multimillion-dollar business park development. In November 2013, Hawke's Bay Airport announced advanced planning to further lengthen its main runway from 1750m to 1940m no later than 2018, and a significant terminal expansion and redevelopment to cope with significantly higher than projected annual increases in passengers numbers. A new NZ$25 million terminal building opened on 5 August 2021 after numerous delays due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In the financial year ending June 2017, the airport saw record numbers pass through its doors, at 652,426. It remains the 7th busiest airport in New Zealand. Jetstar Airways previously operated daily services between Napier and

from December 2015 until November 2019.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

References

External links