Wellington Airport sees $2 billion net benefit in longer runway
A 330m longer runway will cater for the mid-sized new generation widebodied jetliners.
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Hawke’s Bay
A planned extension of the Wellington Airport runway will attract larger aircraft and deliver a net economic gain of $2 billion, a cost-benefit analysis shows.
A report (PDF here) released today by the airport company says adding 330m to the 1945m runway at the southern end will allow it to cater for the new generation Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 widebodied jetliners.
These aircraft will be able to link Wellington directly with airports throughout Asia and North America, bringing 65% of the world’s population within a one-stop flight to Wellington.
Only 1% of the world’s population can now access Wellington within a single flight compared with 32% for Auckland.
Wellington Airport chief executive Steve Sanderson says “enabling long-haul flights and building Wellington’s connectivity to the rest of the world is imperative to our visibility and economic growth.”
He says when Wellington extended its runway in 1972 to enable jet services to Australia there was much public debate about whether the benefits and costs stacked up.
“But we now have up to 70 return international flights per week and the benefits are well established," he says.
“With a $2 billion net benefit for the country, it means for each dollar spent on lengthening the runway there would be a national benefit of around $7.”
The total cost of the extension project is estimated at $350 million.
The forecast long-haul flights lasting up to 12.5 hours would see a daily service in 2021 increasing to four flights a day by 2035, the report says.
International visitor growth for New Zealand is forecast be an additional 125,000 visitors a year by 2035, rising to 200,000 a year by 2060.
Wellington Airport is jointly owned by Wellington City Council and Infratil.
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Nevil Gibson
Wed, 25 Nov 2015
Wed, 25 Nov 2015
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