Airport name up for debate

A Napier City Council meeting next week will debate a controversial proposal to rename the region's airport as Ahuriri Airport Hawke's Bay.

Councillors gave the proposal their informal support late last year after a meeting with treaty claimant group Mana Ahuriri which had previously asked the airport company to consider the name change.

Hawke's Bay Airport Limited supports the move but is seeking the approval of its shareholders: the Napier council (which owns a 26 per cent stake), Hastings District Council (24 per cent) and the Crown (50 per cent).

Airport company chairman Tony Porter wrote to the three shareholders this week formally requesting their approval, and that has prompted the issue to be put on the agenda of Napier City Council's next meeting, to be held on Wednesday.

The issue is expected to then be on the agenda of a Hastings District Council meeting scheduled for the following week.

Mr Porter has said he would like the support of all shareholders for the name change.

The Crown's half-share of the airport is the responsibility of State Owned Enterprises Minister Todd McClay and Finance Minister Bill English.

Mr Porter said last night he had so far not received any feedback from the ministers to the proposal, which has generated significant comment from Hawke's Bay Today readers since the paper revealed the proposal in March.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton has been a vocal supporter of the name change which is also recommended in a paper prepared for Wednesday's meeting by Napier City Council chief executive Wayne Jack.

"Mana Ahuriri's desire for the name change is based upon the history of the area where the airport is located and its historical connection with the Ahuriri hapu," Mr Jack says in the paper.

"There have been some suggestions that the new name could be 'Hawke's Bay Airport Ahuriri', however this name does not reflect the cultural considerations nor fit with the geographical naming conventions. It is also not supported by the Board of Hawke's Bay Airport Limited," the paper says.

The paper says there would be no direct financial implications for Napier City Council as a result of the name change "but as a substantial shareholder in the Airport the Council has a vested interest in minimising costs and maximizing value on its investment."

For the airport company the costs involved were "believed to be minimal, mainly involving changes to office stationery, signage, and legal expenses. All these costs would be within the normal operating budgets of the Airport."

Mr Dalton said he had been surprised by the controversy the proposal had caused, especially since a recent change to the name of Hawke's Bay Hospital, which he considered a similar acknowledgement of the past as the airport change, had not generated debate.

People would continue to refer to the hospital by a number of shorter names, and the same would be the case for the airport, Mr Dalton said. "As far as I'm concerned [the name change] is simply an acknowledgement and shows respect for history."