2026 is shaping up to be the year it all starts falling into place for Auckland, writes Carrie Hurihanginui.
Anyone who’s tackled a 5000-piece jigsaw knows the drill — sorting by colour, hunting for edge pieces, constantly checking the box to remind yourself what you’re actually building.
There’s often a long stretch where progress feels painful. Then, almost without warning, the picture snaps into focus.
Auckland has felt like that puzzle for a while now.
The pandemic left the city a bit fragmented, with countless individuals, businesses and community groups working away in their own patch to piece it back together.
But now the picture is emerging and 2026 is shaping up to be the year it all starts falling into place.
Better transport links, stronger connections for people and freight, new reasons to visit, and improved spaces to enjoy. There’s lots to look forward to.
Tourism and events don’t happen by accident. They require investment, infrastructure, and the right venues to attract the right talent.
That’s why it was great to see the Government launch its $70 million events fund last year, helping major venues compete for world-class events.
The long-awaited opening of the New Zealand International Convention Centre gives Auckland a serious new engine for economic growth. From major medical association conferences to the World Dairy Summit, experts aplenty are headed our way. They’re the kinds of events that bring high-value visitors who stay longer, spend more, and keep coming back.
Equally exciting is the transformation underway at Eden Park.
Recent changes to planning rules have unlocked the venue’s potential to host significantly more events, including major concerts and night-time sport .
The announcement of New Zealand’s first-ever State of Origin match in 2027 is a standout example of what’s possible when we remove barriers to world-class events.
Getting around the city will become much easier, too, when the City Rail Link launches in the second half of the year, boosting train capacity by more than 50% and moving up to 19,000 people per hour across the network. Infrastructure of this scale changes how we all live.
As Auckland grows its presence in the global economy, the infrastructure linking the city to the world becomes increasingly vital.
For a nation at the far edge of the Pacific, these connections aren’t a nice-to-have — they’re how we participate in the global economy. In an era of global uncertainty , like the one we find ourselves in , building and maintaining those connections matters more, not less.
Auckland Airport sits at the centre of that connectivity. We support more than $35 billion in economic output through travel and tourism each year, $26 billion in trade, and 25,000 jobs second-largest employment hub outside the CBD.
Our infrastructure programme is about resilience and capacity, ensuring Auckland has a gateway fit for decades ahead. It is prudent, sensible investment from an airport that, by aviation global benchmarking, is one of the more affordable in the world to fly through.
Port of Auckland is investing too, making rapid and exciting steps towards more efficient utilisation of our stunning waterfront. At the same time, it’s investing in new wharves and facilities to handle the comings and goings of the people and goods so essential for New Zealand to succeed.
Major investment attracts scrutiny - and rightly so . At Auckland Airport, we welcome that accountability. But New Zealand cannot keep waiting for the perfect moment to build. There is no such moment. Too many sectors are already paying the price of chronic underinvestment by kicking the can down the road .
The strength of our global connections will shape this country’s economic future. Auckland Airport intends to be equal to that task.
None of this infrastructure investment delivers its full potential without frameworks that are fit for purpose.
On that front, there is progress underway, with the emerging “City Deal” between
Auckland and central government. Imagine what the power of aligned investment and shared priorities, backed by phased investment, could mean for Auckland. Suddenly , a second harbour crossing in the future doesn’t sound so impossible.
Cabinet ministers Chris Bishop and Simon Watts are talking about easier access to new and existing funding and financing tools; and more collaboration with experts and officials to move us forward. Meaningful progress here will require cross-party commitment, and the National Infrastructure Plan is a great step in that direction.
Meanwhile, I think it’s time Auckland changed the story it tells about itself.
We have a habit of dwelling on the city’s problems. Not without reason — Auckland has some genuine challenges. But there is a difference between useful reflection and a mindset that defaults to difficulty.
The Committee for Auckland’s “Auckland Narrative” initiative is an attempt to shift that. By bringing together private enterprise, public institutions, iwi, academia, and the NGO sector, it aims to build a shared account of what Auckland actually is, its potential and where it is genuinely headed.
I love this multicultural city. I have lived in New Zealand for 36 years and 24 years of them in Auckland, arriving from Rockford, Illinois, a place about as far from the Pacific as it is possible to be.
I have never taken for granted what this city offers: the proximity to the sea, the openness, the sheer breadth of cultures and perspectives living alongside each other.
Economically and socially speaking, there’s no doubt it’s been a long economic winter but Auckland has done the hard, unglamorous work of laying important foundations.
2026 is the year we start to build on them.
Auckland Airport is sponsor of the Herald’s Project Auckland report.