Tarras International Airport

[Gumboot]

Good or bad?

https://www.tarras.org.nz/airport.html

Hmm...

[Guy Smiley]

This got some news exposure sometime last year...

I dunno why you'd want to. Q'town is international approved and right in the region. I gather there's some momentum to steal wider business activity from Chch airport... can't remember the angle I read on that but it's about more than simple air traffic.

[Gumboot]

Queenstown Lakes is about to become the Switzerland of the south. Environmental issues won't matter much in the short term, but getting diggers in the ground will. The location has already been decided, and bought. Tough luck, locals.

[Gumboot]

This got some news exposure sometime last year...

I dunno why you'd want to. Q'town is international approved and right in the region. I gather there's some momentum to steal wider business activity from Chch airport... can't remember the angle I read on that but it's about more than simple air traffic.

Bigger runways = bigger planes.

In optimal conditions for a bigger runway near a growing tourist destination = Tarras.

[Gumboot]

Anyway, most of the needed rural land has already been procured, so it's just a matter of time.

And it will take a long time. But many of the masterminds behind this secretive scheme will get their payouts long before the airport's actually completed and operational. Such is the nature of these matters.

[Gumboot]

I wonder how many NDAs there are? Dozens? Hundreds?

[Gumboot]

Nobody can really blame the current owners for selling up, given the ridiculous amounts of money that were thrown around to keep it all quiet in the first place. Now it's a done deal they'll do anything to keep a lid on it. Because $$$

[Certain Navigator]

It's simple enough. The geographical location and topography of Queenstown means its airport can't expand and air traffic projections indicate that it'll soon be at full capacity, hence the need for another airport somewhere in the region.

Of course, if the greenies get their way and flying is banned for everybody except themselves, then those projections will look pretty dumb.

[Guy Smiley]

yes, any argument centred on 'the greenies' is sure to involve a bit of intellectual rigour...

I went looking for whatever it was I read on this last year. I think this is it here
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300667 ... rport-plan


and there are some interesting angles on the idea. Firstly, I had it wrong, it's not something aimed at taking business away from Chch airport, it IS Chch airport

Whatever Air New Zealand might make of Christchurch Airport’s ambitions, the airline’s former deputy chief executive, Norm Thompson, doesn’t buy the need for a Tarras terminal.

Thompson, granted the New Zealand Order of Merit for more than 40 years' services to aviation and tourism and a former Queenstown Airport board member, gives Christchurch Airport boss Malcolm Johns credit for “putting the idea out there”, but doesn’t believe a new Tarras airport is necessary.

“We don’t have a capacity issue today or in the longer term either as far as passengers are concerned. Christchurch Airport says it is building the airport for the region, but if you take the whole region, it already has significant airports as far as Queenstown, Dunedin and Invercargill are concerned, none of which is at capacity.”

Thompson, an adviser to Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, Tāmaki Makaurau’s economic and cultural agency, thinks Auckland will remain the hub for long-haul carriers, delivering tourists into New Zealand to spend time in the city then disperse from there, many flying straight to Queenstown.

He fails to see why the national carrier would fly long-haul services to Tarras when it doesn’t operate them to Christchurch, saying there isn’t demand and the seasonality of freight and tourist traffic are other significant factors.

[Guy Smiley]

Some organised opposition to the proposal...

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/483 ... pen-letter

A group of leading academics are calling for the Tarras airport proposal to be scrapped.

Christchurch Airport has bought up 750 hectares of Central Otago farmland in the hopes of one day building an international capable airport.

An investigation has found the site is capable of supporting an airfield with a single runway of at least 2.2 kilometres.

Tarras is about 30km from nearby Cromwell and 90km from Queenstown, and home to a couple of hundred people.

The proposal has been met with mixed feelings by residents of Tarras, nearby Cromwell and the wider Central Otago district.

But 11 of New Zealand's leading academics - including Dame Anne Salmond and professor Shaun Hendy - have signed an open letter calling for the plan to be scrapped.

The researchers - with expertise in the fields of business, economics, climate science, sustainability, Māori and indigenous studies, tourism, environment, agriculture, and policy studies - said it ran counter to New Zealand's commitment to reducing carbon emissions and the climate emergencies declared by councils.

"It is already proving difficult to reduce carbon emissions. Government is asking others - such as the farming sector, the public sector and the energy sector - to take urgent and major steps to curb emissions," the letter said.

"We are concerned that any organisation, let alone Christchurch International Airport Ltd which is owned 25 percent by the government and 75 percent by Christchurch City Council, would consider building a new airport in New Zealand during a climate emergency.

"This proposed airport highlights the need for more climate-focussed legislative and regulatory frameworks as a basis for stronger controls for approving major infrastructure projects such as new international airports."

The researchers also believed the proposed airport had a volume-based tourism approach, which they said did not align with Queenstown Lakes' and Central Otago's destination management plans.

"The future of tourism will be less volume driven, and more focussed on quality and value through extended length of stay, high value, deep engagement and high quality local/regional visitor experiences.

"These principles are outlined in the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago destination management plans."

The letter also raised concerns about negative impacts on Central Otago's environment, flora and fauna, strain on regional infrastructure, impact on local and regional communities, wider economic consequences, intergenerational impacts and the well-being of those living locally.

University of Otago professor of sustainable tourism James Higham, who brought the group together, said he and his peers strongly opposed the proposal.

"Given the available research and data - and there is plenty of it - it makes no sense whatsoever to build a new airport at Tarras - or anywhere else in New Zealand for that matter."

The group had dubbed themselves "Informed Leaders", as they were encouraging decision-makers to factor in relevant research.

"Decisions to proceed with projects like this with the potential for significant, intergenerational impacts should not be made in isolation by individual companies. The available research and data should be factored in, discussed openly with stakeholders and key communities."

The letter was sent earlier this week to the board of Christchurch Airport, as well as to Christchurch City Council and central government, and others such as Christchurch's community boards, Central Otago District Council, and Otago Regional Council.

Higham said the group was now working on a curated index of existing, relevant research that should inform the wider conversation.

This got some news exposure sometime last year...

I dunno why you'd want to. Q'town is international approved and right in the region. I gather there's some momentum to steal wider business activity from Chch airport... can't remember the angle I read on that but it's about more than simple air traffic.

Bigger runways = bigger planes.

In optimal conditions for a bigger runway near a growing tourist destination = Tarras.

I skipped this last time we opened this thread. Chch is already approved for A380s and has catered to those already... while the aviation industry is talking about the end of the 'jumbo' era with a shift towards more efficient, wide body twin engine long haul units.

[Mr Bungle]

Anyway, most of the needed rural land has already been procured, so it's just a matter of time.

Friends made an absolute killing selling land to the Airport consortium.

[Gumboot]

Anyway, most of the needed rural land has already been procured, so it's just a matter of time.

Friends made an absolute killing selling land to the Airport consortium.

[Uncle fester]

It's simple enough. The geographical location and topography of Queenstown means its airport can't expand and air traffic projections indicate that it'll soon be at full capacity, hence the need for another airport somewhere in the region.

Of course, if the greenies get their way and flying is banned for everybody except themselves, then those projections will look pretty dumb.

Hydrogen fuel cells will sort you out.