Bumper airport spend to boost tourism

A multimillion-dollar project to upgrade Bay of Islands Airport means the 19-seater planes currently serving Kerikeri can be replaced entirely with 50-seat Dash 8 Q300s, like this one landing at Whangarei. PHOTO / MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

Millions pumped in won’t include cent from ratepayer

A multimillion-dollar project to upgrade Bay of Islands Airport will boost capacity between Auckland and Kerikeri by 12,000 passengers a year.

The runway and apron extension will allow Air New Zealand to phase out flights with the 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D aircraft by February and switch to the 50-seat Bombardier Dash 8 Q300.

The larger aircraft will boost the capacity of 60,000 passengers a year by 20 per cent.

The expansion is expected to boost tourism and make the Far North more attractive as a conference venue.

Neither Air New Zealand nor council-owned company Far North Holdings (FNH) will say how much the project will cost, because of commercial confidentiality, but company chief executive Andy Nock said it would be a "significant sum", running into the millions. It was a commercial project which would have "no impact whatsoever" on ratepayers.

Mr Nock said Q300s were already used on some flights to Kerikeri but the apron, where aircraft were parked and loaded, was not up to strength. The company had nursed it through with limited Q300 flights but strengthening was needed for a full switch-over.

The upgrade would allow the even bigger 70-seat ATR72 to fly into Kerikeri, for example for next year's national community boards conference in Paihia.

The improvements would also allow more than one large aircraft to be parked at once.

The need to upgrade the busiest airport north of Whangarei has been a headache for successive councils. Mr Nock said the company had been building a close relationship with Air New Zealand for three years and they had a good understanding of each other's needs.

The airport's departure and arrival halls will be expanded to cope with the extra passengers. Work on the terminal will start in May. Work on the apron and taxiway upgrade started last week and is due to finish by the end of January.

Mayor John Carter said the council had struggled to fund essential improvements at the airport, so he was delighted the airline had decided to invest in a vital part of the Far North's tourism and economic infrastructure.

Air New Zealand regional affairs manager Ian Collier said the project was part of a "great partnership" with FNH.

The companies had already worked together on marketing initiatives, including the 2014 Bay of Islands bathtub race when the airline sponsored the winner's flights to the word champs in Canada.