Wellington's airport runway extension initiative fails on the grounds that lower North Island and South Island travellers are already flying to long-haul destinations through Auckland or Christchurch and the region is not a magnet for tourists, who are more likely to favour Auckland and Queenstown as an arrival point.
That's the conclusion of a study commissioned by the lobby group for international airlines, including Air New Zealand, lodged in opposition to Wellington International Airport's application for a resource consent to lengthen the capital city's runway by 350 metres.
The new study, by Australian-based Ailevon Pacific Aviation Consultants for the Board of Airline Representatives in New Zealand, says the likelihood of airlines establishing new long-haul services to the capital is "extremely remote, implausible at best".
It contests the findings of a study by rival aviation industry consultants InterVistas, which APAC says has overestimated demand for long-haul services to and from Wellington, which it says has not benefited from the boom in international tourism that has boosted arrivals, particularly to Auckland and Queenstown, in recent years.
"Visitor demand growth from long-haul markets to Wellington has lagged not only the New Zealand average but also other airports in New Zealand without long-haul international services," says the APAC report.