Watch: Air NZ's massive new Auckland hangar at Auckland Airport. Video / Supplied
Air New Zealand has started work on its new hangar at Auckland Airport, the largest single span timber arch hangar in the Southern Hemisphere.
The big project was paused when Covid-19 hit but later this week takes a big step when a convoy of 40 trucks will deliverconcrete for a footing for the 10,000sqm (1ha) building to the east of its engineering base at the airport.
The airline says the new building, which will be linked to its existing large hangar built in the 1980s, will allow it to retain its engineering and maintenance capability in this country.
The new Hangar 4 will be about 1.5 times as big as the neighbouring Hangar 3, which was built to allow work on Boeing 747 Jumbo jets the airline had delivered into its fleet from the early 1980s.
Hangar 4 will be built largely from plantation pine sourced from Nelson and will be big enough to house a widebody Boeing 787 or a 777X with two Airbus A320/21 aircraft alongside it. Not only is the hangar cavernous, it will be environmentally friendly with the airline aiming at a world-leading 6-star green rating from the NZ Green Building Council once its built.
Its roof is made out of ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene), a lightweight fluorine-based plastic designed to have high corrosion resistance, important given the area’s close proximity to the sea. It is also very strong over a wide temperature range. The material is used on Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. The 98m-wide hangar will have more natural light that will cut energy bills, will be warmer in winter and ventilation systems mean it will be cooler in summer.
The timber will be laminated with non-toxic glue.
The new hangar is part of the airline’s Auckland Base Development over five years which will result in Hangar 3 being recladded and upgraded and the 1960s-era Hangar 2 being demolished. The area it covered would be turned into a hardstand for planes.
The old hangar was built for smaller DC8 aircraft and new, bigger planes are unable to fit into it and have its doors closed.
Brett Daley, Air NZ’s group general manager - engineering, aircraft and maintenance delivery, said the new hangar would reinforce Auckland as the airline’s home and for engineering and maintenance.
What the interior of Air NZ's Hangar 4 will look like. Image / Supplied
“And what we’ll end up with is essentially a purpose-built facility with two hangars either side of a central workshop area. And those two hangars will be able to meet the future needs of the fleet,” Daley said.
The airline is not divulging the cost of the multi-year project, on land it leases from Auckland Airport.
“It’s a significant investment. It’s one of those things where we’ve got the ability now to fund it. This is something that is a five-year journey and is going to take quite a lot of incremental investment, but it’s the right time to do it.”
Air New Zealand first announced plans in April 2019 but put them on hold when Covid-19 hit and it needed Government support to avert collapse.
Daley said construction costs had risen since but every business was facing this.
Engineers were involved in the design of the complex and centralising the workshop would make operations more efficient. Replacing Hangar 2 was important as it was no longer fit for purpose.
“It’s difficult at the moment because we’ve got a hodgepodge of different hangar bays with tails sticking out. but this will enable us to get even our 777s inside with the doors closed so we can work on them much more easily and safely.”
The airline has about 1700 engineers and maintenance staff.
Air NZ's Hangar 2 was built to service DC8 aircraft in the mid-1960s. Photo / NZ Herald historic archive
The new hangar wouldn’t be equipped for heavy checks of aircraft and they will still have to be sent offshore but regular maintenance such as 1000-hour checks on widebody planes would continue here.
The pandemic and supply chain problems had reinforced the need to be as resilient as possible and maintain engineering capability in this country, said Daley.
“It’s also [about] sustainability because if we can do more work here, it’s obviously going to save us a lot of carbon credits [than] sending things out elsewhere.”
The new complex allows the airline to bring its fire-fighting systems and deluge tanks up to strict new environmental standards.
Auckland company NZ Strong is the main contractor and Daley said a tower crane would be going up soon.
Air New Zealand also has plans to move its main corporate headquarters from downtown Auckland to its campus on Geoffrey Roberts Rd, next to the hangars.
