The lead story on Tuesday, April 16, related to the possible relocation of Queenstown Airport. While I respect the article reflected the opinion of individuals, in my opinion the piece would have benefited from some balance.
On many past occasions, proposals have been put forward to relocate Queenstown Airport. All of those studies have concluded there is no compelling argument to move the airport as all of the sites put forward had their own challenges.
This is not ``blue sky'' thinking. This is not new thinking nor is it something that has not been comprehensively considered numerous times before.
I must point out that the airport has existed on its current site since 1938. Development has taken place around the airport and, of course, the airport's operations have increased dramatically in 80 years.
Again, in the interests of balance, it will be worth understanding for the wider community that understandably the individuals promoting this are generally resident near the airport and have made the choice to knowingly purchase their properties. They are entitled to hold this opinion.
Many in the district, however, have been delighted with the fact they have an easily accessible international airport in close proximity to Queenstown and under an hour's drive from Wanaka, permitting travel out of town without a long commute.
And remember, about 20% of the traffic at Queenstown Airport is actually locals travelling for business and pleasure.
Moving to the issue of a relocation of the airport. To state the obvious, no-one wants to be ``airport town'' these days. That has proven to be the case with suggestions on where it might go.
I think I am right in saying that no new airport has been created since the introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991. I can imagine that the process of getting consent for a new airport would be nigh on impossible. Certainly it would take many, many years with an enormous amount of risk capital put forward with no guaranteed return. That is highly unlikely.
Then consider the financial model. As an ex-airport CEO, I can have a rough guess and I suspect the construction of an airport would cost somewhere from $1billion to $1.5billion. Where is that money coming from?
Yes, if our airport at Frankton was closed there would be some recovery but it would not be anything like the amount of money required to create a new airport. Furthering the financial discussion, with that level of investment in a new airport, airlines would need to pay enormously high landing charges to provide a return for the investor. That, too, will not work.
The article suggested creating an airport at Tarras. Despite the fact that residents of Tarras have already indicated they're not keen on the idea, Tarras is around an hour and a-half drive from Queenstown. There is already a perfectly a good airport two hours from Queenstown in Invercargill. It would seem a questionable investment therefore, to use that amount of money to save half an hour.
Later this year, I expect Queenstown Airport Corporation to readdress noise contours and to find a balance that is acceptable to the majority of residents, as well as providing a level of growth the business community of Queenstown seeks.
It is also relevant that about 400,000 of the passenger movements at Queenstown Airport are Wanaka and Upper Clutha generated and with the establishment of a domestic airport operating a few flights a day there will significantly lower numbers using Queenstown Airport.
Let me reiterate that Queenstown airport is not seeking to relocate general tourism traffic to Wanaka but merely for Wanaka to service its own customer base. Assuming the establishment of a domestic airport at Wanaka, the Otago-Southland area will be serviced by four perfectly good airports and frankly, there is no need to create another one at enormous expense.
I foresee in the future greater use of Dunedin and particularly Invercargill airports servicing growing tourism in both Otago and Southland. That is compatible with our district's desire to assist with the regional growth of tourism.
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Finally someone that the ODT respects. Jim Boult is an aviation expert. I am not an expert but have listened to the experts an have a massive interest in aviation logistics & marketing.
Domestically Queenstown & Wanaka should service their own areas only and not turn into "airport towns". There is more than an adequate airport at Invercargill that's ready internationally NOW. Why spend (and I said it last week here too) 2 billion on a new airport which will be still over an hour away from Queenstown. Commonsense at last..
Here's a question for Mayor Boult, whose loyalties appear to lie firmly with Queenstown rather than other areas in his constituency: given that "upper Clutha" is not necessarily Wanaka, then of the 400,000 passenger movements how many are actually Wanaka. Or, is Mayor Boult simply trying to export a horrible situation out of Queenstown, to the great detriment of Wanaka? Surely greater vision and a broader loyalty is required than that from our District's leader?!