In what’s being billed as the biggest change to the airport in decades, the new Auckland Airport Transport Hub will open in stages from early next year. Parking charges will be comparable to existing undercover areas.
The old main carpark outside Auckland Airport’s international terminal has been transformed into a new $300 million transport centre, and it will soon be opened in stages.
The pick-up and drop-off (Pudo) area will be the first to open — around March — along with 60-minute parking for those who want to spend longer in the terminal.
The old carpark A had about 1200 carparks and when the upper floors of the transport hub are completed in the late 2024 calendar year, the building will contain about 2100 carparks.
The additional parks have been created as headroom to accommodate domestic travellers when the new domestic jet terminal opens in 2028-29, along with international travellers. The four-storey building will also accommodate rental cars and valet parking for the first time.
Carpark charges for the new transport hub will be comparable to charges at other undercover carparks at Auckland Airport, with the details now being worked through. Parking in carpark D, where some are covered, costs $6.95 an hour at present.
The new arrival and departure point directly outside the international terminal, the 70,000sq m building will provide more space for people to drop off and pick up family and friends, a new roading layout and public transport connections, all protected from the weather in a modern, under-cover environment.
“This will be the biggest change to Auckland Airport in decades, creating a new welcome and departure experience for international visitors to Tāmaki Makaurau with our new Transport Hub,” Auckland Airport chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui said.
“We’re excited to deliver a critical piece of transport infrastructure that will not only free up congestion outside the international terminal and make journeys smoother; we’re also getting on with improving the streetscape around the international terminal.”
There would be a landscaped pedestrian plaza and covered walkways.
“Alongside this, there will be increased native planting in the pedestrian plaza, including mature pōhutukawa trees which have been relocated from other parts of the airport precinct. This new planting reduces the amount of concrete and asphalt in the area by 20 per cent, assisting with the way we manage stormwater on precinct.”
Each day over 50,000 travellers fly to and from Auckland Airport, with the new hub to play an integral role in their commute to and from the international terminal.
At 200m long, each floor of the structure is the size of two rugby fields with a double-height open ground floor.
Dedicated transport lanes for buses and taxis and public pick-up and drop-off will run through the base of the facility, providing plenty of space for 650 cars, buses, rideshares and taxis that are expected to travel through it during peak hour.
Public transport is being prioritised, using the lanes closest to the terminal. Alongside this, there are separate areas for public pick-up, priority drop-off areas for people with accessibility needs, and a drop-off zone for commercial transport.
Set to open in stages next year, there were now more than 350 people on site each day, Hurihanganui said, getting the new undercover pick-up/drop-off zone ready to open, with the upper storeys of the building to open later in 2024.
“It’ll be a far cry from the big, open-air, ground-level car park previously in this space and our first real opportunity to show how carefully we’re thinking about the customer experience as we’ve built from the ground up a whole new way of arriving and departing into the airport,” she said.
“Clearly, that’s about the physical structure — making it easy to find your way around, keeping pedestrian paths safe and under cover, having lots of space available for drop-offs and pick-ups, or being able to quickly slip into a P60 carpark if your drop-off plans change from a quick ‘kiss-and-go’ to making that farewell over a pre-departure coffee,” she said.
The transport hub will allow the airport to reduce its environmental impact.
Its roof will have a 1.2-megawatt rooftop solar array that will help to power 33 public electric vehicle charging stations when the carpark opens, along with a new office building taking shape at the end of the development.
Designed to a 5-Star Green rating, it will provide office and meeting spaces for the airport’s operational teams and partner organisations when it opens towards the end of 2024.
While planned light rail to the airport has been canned, the airport has protected land next to the hub for a future mass rapid transit station to be added directly alongside when required, Hurihanganui said.
The transport hub will not only improve the airport arrival and departure experience for travellers, it’s a critical project to unlock the development of the new domestic jet terminal to be integrated into the eastern end of the international terminal. Once the new pick-up/drop-off area is open in the transport hub, construction teams will close public access to the existing forecourt outside the international terminal, making way for terminal construction.
Hurihanganui said the transport hub would also provide the capacity needed not only to cater for today’s traveller but for the future transport needs of domestic jet and international travellers, once the combined terminal opens towards the end of the decade.
“Auckland Airport is a fast-growing precinct not only for travel but also as a centre for business. Ongoing investment to our transport network is critical to ensure the airport is resilient and fit for the future, ensuring we are set up to provide a range of transport options to travellers and workers coming to and from the airport.”
Grant Bradley has worked at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.
One route had three times the average rate of cancellations.