The Wānaka Airport Users Group (WAUG) conducted the survey and has published it on a new website, also launched yesterday.
Don Grant, the chairman of WAUG and a recreational pilot, said the survey was conducted over summer and asked all private pilots, aircraft owners and businesses at the airport to confidentially share information about their activities.
"It is the first time that an accurate picture of the airport community has been collated and shared with the wider community," Mr Grant said.
The survey was important in helping people understand the scale and value of the airport to the community, he said.
He recalled talking to a friend who had suggested the airport only employed 10 people and had a turnover of $1.5 million.
"That was a turning point for me. I thought, hold on a minute. We don’t really know. If we can’t measure it, we can’t manage it ... If there is a guy who has been living here for 30-odd years and is fairly well informed doesn’t know, then let’s promote more things about the airport and let the town know it is really important," Mr Grant said in an interview with the Otago Daily Times.
The airport is owned by the Queenstown Lakes District Council and managed under contract by the Queenstown Airport Corporation.
Mr Grant said it was important to remember Wānaka Airport was all about general aviation.
When the Covid pandemic struck, there was "not tourism, nothing happening" and some people lost their jobs, he said.
The aviation hub was now vibrant and growing.
The biggest issue now confronting the airport was its designation as "rural land".
WAUG wanted to work with QLDC and WAC to change it to "airport".
"That would enable more hangars for the 71% of businesses wanting to expand but they can’t.
"[It] is not like Auckland International Airport, which is all airline focused. This airport is the exact opposite of that and we have all this business here looking after and doing maintenance of planes from little sightseeing ones, helicopters, microlights, the lot," Mr Grant said.
A small WAUG steering group was already working to put a joint development plan together to go to a new council airport liaison committee.
“Everyone knows about Warbirds Over Wānaka, which is a fabulous event, but there is also a lot more going on out here every day.
"It’s clear that the activity at the airport has tangible benefits back into the Wānaka community."
In the coming months, WAUG will also launch a digital history of Wānaka Airport.
The website is www.Wānakaairport.info.
By the numbers
Airport suppliers: 713 (many of them local)
Total full-time employees: 147
Combined annual salary: $9.3 million.
Commercial aircraft at airport: 65
Value of commercial aircraft: $57 million
Private aircraft at airport: 72
Combined total pilot flying years: 1594 years
Source: Wānaka Airport Users Group survey
