Northland: Air NZ backs airport site for now - but future needs of electric planes unknown

A Bombardier Q300 comes in to land at Whangārei Airport in Onerahi. Photo / Tania Whyte

Whangārei's current airport location is working well for Air New Zealand - but it's too soon to know what the requirements will be for the next generation of hydrogen-electric planes, the airline's chairwoman says.

Dame Therese Walsh was in Northland last week as the airline's board toured the region's airports and top visitor destinations.

The board visit came just as the Whangārei District Council announced it was planning to develop a new airport at an estimated cost of $150 million. Ruatangata, northwest of the city, is the council's favoured site.

Reasons for leaving the current Onerahi site include the length of its runway, believed to be the shortest in New Zealand.

Dame Therese told the Advocate the airline was "agnostic" about the airport's location as long as it could continue to land its 50-seater Bombardier Q300 planes.

"A number of considerations go into choosing an airport's location, but we're comfortable with where we are. We can get a Q300 on the ground into Whangārei - that's the single most important thing and we're doing that well at the moment."

However, as the oldest aircraft in the fleet, it was likely the Q300s would be phased out in the next five to six years.

That was expected to coincide with the development of hydrogen-electric aircraft.

Those planes did not yet exist so it was impossible to say what their requirements would be in terms of runway length, power supply or other factors.

"But in the short to medium term, it's likely that we'll still be using our Q300s. When we retire them we'll be looking for that next generation of aircraft to come through," Walsh said.

Air New Zealand chairwoman Dame Therese Walsh at Paihia wharf during this week's Northland visit. Photo / Peter de Graaf

She doubted a new airport at Whangārei would mean Bay of Islands Airport Kerikeri, where a new terminal opened in 2019, was no longer needed.

Both airports showed strong demand and were already back to pre-Covid levels of around five flights a day, "which is quite astounding".

"So I can't foresee a situation where there wouldn't be a service into Kerikeri that was still substantial," she said.

The board had received a lot of feedback about the direct flights from Kerikeri, and Whangārei to Wellington, while Auckland was in lockdown. Many Northlanders wanted them to continue.

"They were for a specific purpose, an emergency situation, but we have absolutely noted the feedback. We have a limited number of aircraft that can service particular routes, we've had to absorb them back into the network because we are starting to gear up."

The airline's plans to expand its domestic services could mean new routes, such as Kerikeri/Whangārei to Wellington, but it wouldn't be in the short term.

"It's probably the thing we've heard about the most on this trip. People really enjoyed those flights, though they understand why they're not there now."

Another topic of feedback was the cost of flying to and from the regions.

Walsh acknowledged some price points remained high, though the total number of fares under $100 had increased.

It was "pretty amazing" prices had not gone up overall, given inflation and soaring fuel costs.

Asked about the future of flights to Kaitaia she said there were no plans to reinstate the service terminated in 2015.

"You never say never to anything, particularly when you get into next-generation aircraft, but at the moment there are no plans. I think the region is reasonably well served."

Board members visited Kerikeri, Paihia, Russell and Whangārei. They met tourism operators, airport staff and freight customers, and received a full pōwhiri at the Treaty Grounds. They also planned to check out the new Hundertwasser Centre.

"The philosophy is you can make better decisions in the boardroom if you go out and about and talk to people."

Walsh said one of the highlights for her was visiting the new "world-class" museums at Waitangi.

"They just blew me away. They're spectacular."

The Whangarei District Council is due to announce its preferred site for a new airport on April 20. An initial 27 sites were considered, of which three made it to the final shortlist.

Two of those are in Ruatangata, about 20km northwest of Whangārei, and one is at One Tree Point, about 40km south of the city.