Short Haul flight is environmental enemy no 1. Is it time to revisit the Cook Strait Tunnel?

The Cook Strait is New Zealand's least anticipated and least efficient journey. Photo / Eugene Chystiakov, Wesley Tingey; Unsplash

Opinion:

One of the most naïve but frequently Googled questions by overseas visitors is: “Is there a bridge between New Zealand’s Islands?”

It’s easy to patronise hapless tourists planning a road trip but the idea isn’t as daft as it sounds.

For those used to traversing the Macau - Hong Kong suspension bridge or catching a train from London St Pancras to Paris St Germain, the 22 km stretch of water separating both ends of the Cook Strait seems a paltry distance. People have swum it.

The project to build a physical link between the islands has been in the air since Victorian premier Richard Seddon suggested it in the 1890s. There have been several “what ifs” and “whyfors” on the topic, mostly when the Strait ferry fleet is out of action. But now, with the tailwind of the climate change debate and the aim to reduce New Zealand’s carbon debt, we might finally get the final link in the chain to complete this megaproject.

Is it time we re-float the idea of an inter-islands link?

At the moment the Cook Strait is the site of New Zealand’s least anticipated and least efficient journey.

For all the rose tinted memories of riding the Interislander to Picton, there’s rarely a smooth journey. The journey through the swells and nausea of the 3.5 hour crossing is not to be undertaken lightly. And that’s on a good day.

It’s no wonder that Wellington to Nelson is one of the country’s most popular flight paths.

The Cook Strait, WLG to NSN, is Air New Zealand’s 5th busiest route. At 35 minutes, it’s also one of its shortest. There are also around seven flights a day on the even shorter island hop between Welligton and Blenhiem.

From the viewpoint of sustainability, this is not only a logistical but also a moral problem.

There are few less carbon efficient ways of travel than short haul flight. With a single Dash 8 De Havilland burning through half a tonne of Jet A fuel an hour - more on take off - it’s not a hugely efficient use of hydrocarbons.

In Europe, it is precisely this kind of journey that climate regulations are trying to get rid of. Last year France led the world in pledging to eliminate flights wherever a rail connection of under 150 minutes was available. Led by a proposal from the Citizens’ Convention on Climate it won approval from the European Commission just last month and eventually could lead to the grounding of short haul flights across the continent in favour of “greener and fairer” public transport.

Of course Europe is at an advantage in this department. Firstly, that it has trains. Secondly, it has a colossal budget for spending on infrastructure projects.

In 1988 the Channel Tunnel was a no-brainer. On the other side of the project, the world’s 5th largest economy was waiting to fistbump the 4th largest economy over a job well done.

Even adjusted for inflation, the 50-kilometre tunnel’s $17 billion price tag was pretty money.

Looking to China the more recent Zhuhai Bridge, which covered a similar distance, cost an even greater $30 billion.

In bridging the Cook Strait there would be nobody to shoulder the load but does that mean it shouldn’t be attempted?

Electric aircraft have also been touted as a solution to bridge the gap. Wellington and Blenheim airports have been investing in charging infrastructure for the anticipated arrival of zero emissions aircraft.

Sounds Air, one of the main passenger carriers operating out of Blenheim, has said it would be delivering passengers on electric-powered flights from 2026. It has three twenty seater ES-19 passenger aircraft on order from Hart Aerospace in Sweden.

Given the plane’s builders Hart Aerospace have yet to produce a single full-size aircraft, it’s hard to say when they’ll be landing in New Zealand.

For now a tunnel between the islands remains a pipe dream and the Cook Strait remains New Zealand’s most profligate journey.

Instead of waiting to cross that bridge when we get to it, why not lay the groundwork now? It’s something that will have to be in place first if New Zealand is ever going to get a sustainable approach to travel across both islands.