Paid parking at Whangārei Airport starts this weekend

Whangārei Airport manager Mike Chubb at the newly-installed barrier arm and ticketing machine at the airport car park. Photo/John Stone

Unlimited free parking at Whangārei Airport will end this weekend.

From Saturday, motorists will park for free for the first hour then pay $1 each hour up to a maximum of $10 for a 24-hour period.

Barrier arms and a ticket machine have been put in place at the airport to alert people of the impending change.

The airport is jointly owned by the Whangārei District Council and the Government, who contribute an equal sum for large investments such as renovations and upgrades to roads, buildings and the runway. There are 100 parking spaces at the airport.

WDC commercial property manager Mike Hibbert said the charges were introduced to help ensure there would be enough parking available for airport visitors during peak times.

"Up to now, we have had 28 to 46 cars staying overnight and some cars parked have been parked for days or weeks. This has taken up a lot of parking,'' Hibbert said.

"As a result, people who have been arriving at flight times to pick up or drop off people have often had nowhere to park. (Some) commercial operators have also used the free parking in ways that help their businesses but don't help our customers."

Hibbert said introducing user-pays was always an unpopular move, even when it made the situation fairer for all.

"We talked to other airports before making the decision. At the time, Taupo was the only other commercial airport (other than Whangārei) without parking fees and it was reviewing that position."

Whangārei Airport manager Mike Chubb said the airport has not had a lot of revenue streams to pay for expenses, especially investments in critical infrastructure, that were usually self-funded.

Whangārei Airport manager Mike Chubb at the newly-installed barrier arm and ticketing machine at the airport car park. Photo/John Stone

At the moment, he said hangars and landing fees were the only charges levied on airlines.

Chubb said people did not realise car parks needed a lot of money to maintain like putting in place CCTVs and markers which cost tens of thousands of dollars.