Whangarei Airport
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| Whangarei Airport
|
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|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: WRE - ICAO: NZWR | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Whangarei District Airport | ||
| Serves | Whangarei | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 133 ft (40.5 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 06/24 | 3,599 | 1,097 | Asphalt |
| 14/32 | 1,558 | 475 | Grass |
Whangarei Aerodrome (IATA: WRE, ICAO: NZWR) is a small airport 4NM (7.4km) to the south east of Whangarei city, in the suburb of Onerahi, on the east coast of Northland on the North Island, New Zealand.
Contents |
[edit] History
Whangarei airport was established before World War Two as an Air Force training base. It had 3 grass runways initially, with it being reduced to 2 runways (06/24 and 32/14) after the war. The old barracks are still present today, although surrounded by residential properties. The existing runway, 06/24 was upgraded in the 1960s to its current length of 1097 m.
The airport terminal was upgraded in the early 90's to cater for Eagle Airways aircraft, along with Ansett New Zealand.
In 2002, direct flights linking Whangarei to Wellington International Airport were begun, using Eagle Airways new Beech 1900's, and became Eagle's longest regular flight service, at 626 km.[1]
[edit] Airport Growth
Now days Whangarei airport is becoming increasingly busy, with passenger numbers increaing steadily, on its 9 return flights to Auckland (35 minute flight) and 2 flights to Wellington (1hr 30 flight) each weekday.[2]
This caused Eagle Airways to put on another flight on Friday nights, from early July, 2007. This has boosted the airport's capacity to around 140,000 departing and arriving passengers per year.
This growth has sparked local debate for a new airport with greater capacity, or an expansion of the current facilities. This is due to Beech 1900s being the largest aircraft commercially using the airport. Although the airport can handle chartered larger aircraft, such as Dash 8's, the airport cannot hold regular flights of this size due to safety requirements, but these are going to be met shortly, and flights may commence later this year.
[edit] Airlines and destinations
Whangarei has several destinations, the furthest away being Wellington at 626 km.
- Air New Zealand
- Air New Zealand operated by Eagle Airways (Auckland, Wellington)[3]
- Great Barrier Airlines (Great Barrier Island, Auckland)
- Mountain Air charter flights (Auckland)
- Sunair fly domestic charters to various destinations (Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier)
- Salt Air (Auckland) [4]
[edit] Airport services
Whangarei Airport has an aeroclub, a flight training facility which also does scenic flights and charters, 2 recreational flighing clubs, a parachuting outfit, 3 helicopter training outfits and aircraft maintenance facilities. There are also several private aircraft hangers situated around the airport.
The airport has a modern air-conditioned terminal building with cafeteria, which services Air New Zealand's subsidairy, Eagle Airways. The airport has secure parking, and 4 rental car companies. The runway is lit by pilot activation of the lights, and Av-Gas and Jet A1 are available by swipe card payment.
[edit] Eagle Airways
Eagle Airways has a maintenance base in Whangarei, where 2 aircraft per night are maintained by Northland Aviation Ltd. Eagle Airways also conduct flight training for their pilots from Whangarei, during the weekend where spare aircraft are available for this use.
