Infratil say Govt has done u-turn on Whenuapai

Infratil says it is "very disappointed" by a government u-turn which effectively quashes plans for joint commercial/defence operations at Whenuapai Air Base which could have given Auckland a second airport.

Infrastructure investor Infratil, the majority owner of Wellington International Airport, had hoped to lease part of the West Auckland air base for a commercial airport in a joint venture with Waitakere City Council.

Encouraged by comments by Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton in December that there was nothing to stop a commercial operator leasing part of the air base, the partners had hoped to use the base as an airport for low-cost airlines flying domestically as well as to Australia and the Pacific Islands.

However Infratil said it had received a letter from Defence Minister Mark Burton earlier this month saying the Defence Force would not consider their proposal to lease part of the base for commercial use until nearer 2015, when the air force moves to Ohakea.

"We are very disappointed and we don't regard this as being a well managed process," Infratil executive Tim Brown told NZPA today.

Mr Brown said the decision was "as close to a one eighty degree (turn) as you can get".

"Back in 2002 and 2003 there was a very clear explicit position on the part of both New Zealand Defence Force and the airforce and Minister Burton that the airforce was going to consolidate its operations at Ohakea... and they were going to do that by 2007.

"Since then you've had this diametrically different position arrived at care of Defence who've managed to now drag the process out for another eight years. Also the (Defence) Minister has gone from strongly endorsing the position that they were going to move to now saying not only are they not going to move, but in actual fact they don't need to share the airport with anyone else even though since that original announcement, their use of that airport has gone down by 50 per cent."

'We do feel that for there to have been this scale of change of position over the last two years without any form of public scrutiny or explanation is a mystery that deserves to be unravelled."

Infratil had planned to invest $50 million to upgrade airport and build commercial infrastructure, including a passenger terminal.

Auckland International Airport and Air New Zealand -- 80 per cent owned by the government -- have opposed the Whenuapai plan, saying its South Auckland Mangere airport could cope with 50 years of growth and Whenuapai would force expensive duplication of baggage-handling and customs facilities.

Though Mr Burton's decision was likely to spell the end of a second international airport for Auckland, Mr Brown did not rule out looking at the issue again when the land became available.

- nzpa