Editorial: Auckland's domestic air terminal long past its use-by date

Auckland needs a decent terminal now. Photo / File

Editorial

Aucklanders with long memories might just remember the opening of their new airport at Mangere in 1966. It was the dawn of the jet age and the glittering new terminal on the Mangere field would mean passengers would no longer embark from the hangers at Whenuapai.

Half a century later, that glittering terminal is looking its age.

It is the domestic terminal for an airport that serves more than 40 million passengers a year. A separate international terminal was built nearby more than 40 years ago, but while the international facilities have received countless makeovers — and seem to be almost permanently undergoing redesigns these days — the old domestic shed languishes.

Its size and design is hopelessly inadequate for the number of flights and volume of passengers it serves now. The check-in area is at one end of the ground floor and the departure hall at the other. Arriving passengers have to trek to one end of the upper floor to find stairs down to the exit.

The crowded food hall is abysmal, there is always a queue for the ladies' loos. It is just not a place anyone wants to linger.

Until a few years ago Wellington Airport terminal was even worse, but it has recently had a complete renovation and is roomy and flash. The same goes for Christchurch, which has always had the country's best air terminal and its latest is better than ever. Beside them, Auckland's domestic facilities are third world.

A display board in the arrival hall shows drawings of a complete redevelopment of Auckland Airport eventually. It is a 30-year plan and we are said to be three years into it.

Ultimately, a new domestic terminal will joined to an enlarged international terminal and there will be a runway north of the combined terminals as well as the existing one south of them.

Road access will be realigned to approach from the east and if local and national transport planners get their act together, there could be a rail platform in or under the terminal, too.

The airport company has asked the planners to indicate a likely rail link so it can be incorporated in their designs. Right now they are proposing light (street) rail through Mt Roskill all the way to the airport but there could be a busway or heavy rail line from Puhinui instead.

It all sounds too far in the future. Auckland needs a decent terminal now.