Rotorua gets ready for international flights

Expansion of the Rotorua Airport runway will allow it to handle international flights and receive more Australian passengers. Picture / Alan Gibson

Bay of Plenty travellers may soon have a more direct route to Australia, with the approval of a runway extension for Rotorua Airport.

The 150m extension to the runway's northern end will enable operations by the new A320 aircraft, which require relatively short runways, allowing the airport to become the first to operate international flights in the Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Taupo areas.

Rotorua Regional Airport Company plans to build the $2.7 million extension by June after it was approved by the local council last month, and construct a further 487m extension to the runway's southern end this year or early 2007.

That would allow A320s to fly at full capacity, as well as flights by larger aircraft. A320s are used by Air New Zealand, Freedom Air and Jetstar on other transtasman routes are now limited to 70 per cent capacity, or about 110 passengers.

Airport company chairman Neil Oppatt said the first international flights to Rotorua would be transtasman charters.

"We're heavily focused on Australian short-term destination visitors who want three, four or five-day holidays," he said.

A report last year said coastal Bay of Plenty was the ninth-busiest among the 24 New Zealand regions in terms of guest nights and 14th-highest on the number of visitors.

But Rotorua still missed out on many visitors - and some of the lucrative conference market - as Australian travellers had to fly through Hamilton or Auckland. It was hoped regular transtasman flights would be in place by 2010, with 10-14 flights a week, he said.

About $16 million has already been spent on a terminal upgrade, new aprons for aircraft to park, a taxiway and security fencing. Additional security, biosecurity and customs facilities are planned.

Hamilton International Airport, which bills itself as the "closest international airport to the steaming geysers and boiling mud of Rotorua, Lake Taupo and all its attractions, [and] Tauranga and Mt Maunganui", is undeterred by the news.

Waikato Regional Airport Ltd said it did not view Rotorua's plans as a threat and would press ahead with an aggressive expansion plan already underway at Hamilton.

"We're looking after our business and our business is to provide international facilities for our catchment area, which includes Bay of Plenty," said chief executive Hugh McCarroll.

He said the two airports would not necessarily be in competition because Hamilton focused on New Zealand-originated flights.

Between 20 and 30 per cent of passengers came from the Bay of Plenty.

The first international flights from Hamilton were in 1994. They were charter flights operated by the short-lived Kiwi International, which folded in September 1996.

Freedom Air began flying from Hamilton in 1995 and now has regular services to four Australian cities.

A $15.3 million terminal upgrade for Hamilton began in November last year and is scheduled for completion in mid-2007.

Runway extension
* Rotorua's runway will be extended this year, and again next year.
* Transtasman charter flights are expected to begin by Christmas.
* Regular services are expected by 2010, with 10-14 flights a week.