But there appears to be no chance of a scheduled passenger service returning to the airport.
At a Waitaki District Council meeting this week, the council decided to adopt the Oamaru Airport masterplan and advertise for expressions of interest in the management of the airport on behalf of the council.
The council was told the airport for too long had not supported itself financially and had been propped up by the ratepayers.
Council assets operations manager Joshua Rendell said in a report to council, the airport, which had ageing assets, was financially unsustainable.
A masterplan has been completed with the assistance of Lockie Airport Management and Airbiz Aviation Strategies Pty Ltd.
The masterplan is focused on shifting to a greater approach on profit from aviation activities.
The character of the airport should be seen as a low traffic general aviation hub, it said. Increased revenue could be focused on the construction of private hangars.
The airport occupied 253ha, with 216ha leased to local dairy farms and the rest used for aviation.
Most of the buildings on the the airport site were owned by the council.
There were 29,918 airport movements at the airport in 2021, the majority for commercial pilot training activity.
There was no interest from airlines to begin operating in Oamaru because of a lack of demand and the district being served by nearby airports, the masterplan said.
In a sample taken, the airport at Oamaru had the joint lowest landing charges of $8, although that was questioned by Cr Rebecca Ryan who said other airports had cheaper landing charges.
Consultation was carried out with current airport users.
The New Zealand Airline Academy operated a flight school at the airport. Users said the airport was in a good location, had good airspace and was in a good climate.
However, users had a lack of trust in the council at many levels, including an inability to make consistent decisions.
High traffic levels caused by the pilot training were leading to pilots avoiding the airport.
The airport also sat on highly productive land, which could limit growth.
It was also uncertificated, which could be a problem in the future.
Council chief executive Alex Parmley said the airport was not self-sustaining and the council was now testing the market to have input into the operation of the airport. The airport was not the core business of the council.
Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher said the council had to accept it did not have the skills to run the airport the way it needed to be run.
The masterplan said more clarity was needed for council staff to make decisions and to reduce the burden on elected members.
An absence of a business plan and mixed signals from council was leading to poor decisions being made.
Cr Jim Hopkins said he was not comfortable with the decisions being taken away from elected members and its governance role being reduced.
Cr Jim Thomson said the council needed to be brave with the airport and did not have the knowledge to be in the aerospace business.
He was not comfortable with the council wanting to stay involved in decision-making.
