John MacDonald: Tarras airport pipedream makes no sense for Christchurch

It just doesn’t make sense in any way, shape or form for Christchurch City Council’s airport company to keep up this pipedream of building another airport in Central Otago.

Tarras is the location. And you’ll remember how a few years back the airport company bought a fair bit of land down there - 750 hectares.

But it wasn’t until media got a whiff of it that it announced - or was forced to announce - its plan to set-up another airport to service Queenstown and Wanaka.

It wants a slice of the action from that market, which I can kind of understand. And if Queenstown and Wanaka airports can’t be extended, then I can see why some people would think building another one nearby is the answer.

And, to be honest, until now I’ve never really felt strongly either way. Until now.

Unlike those who are concerned about the whole environmental thing and think it’s nuts to be building more airports and aren’t happy about how this thing could impact the natural environment at Tarras.

Aviation, of course, is in the gun big time when it comes to climate change. And some in the aviation sector are responding.

For example, Schipol Airport in Amsterdam - which is one of the world’s busiest airports - announced last week that it was going to ban private jets from using the airport, reduce hours and scrap a plan to build a new runway.

Christchurch Airport, though, wants to build a whole new airport - about 400 kilometres from the city it serves. And 400 kilometres from the city that its owners - the Christchurch City Council - want more people to come to.

The environmental people who aren’t happy with Christchurch Airport’s plan to expand into central Otago are really ramping things up at the moment, too. Turning up at Christchurch City Council meetings with their “No New Airports” banners. They’re doing the same down south with the Otago Regional Council and Central Otago council.

But the reason I’ve had this realisation that this new airport is a nutbar idea, comes from ChristchurchNZ’s intention to market Christchurch to the world as the City of Play.

And how there’s going to be this big effort to shift peoples’ thinking of Christchurch as a gateway to the rest of the South Island. And, instead, promote it as a destination in itself.

So why on earth would you want to build another airport - 400 kilometres away from Christchurch - if you want this place to be the destination, not just part of the journey?

Well, you wouldn't. Unless you’re Christchurch Airport, which wants to make it easier for more people to skip across the Tasman and completely avoid Christchurch, at the same time as the local tourism agency is trying to get people to stop using Christchurch as a stepping stone and to treat it more as a destination.

And what makes this situation particularly oddball, is the fact that both these organisations - the tourism agency and the airport - both of them are owned by the Christchurch City Council. But it looks like they’re singing from completely different song sheets.

The airport, by the way, is 75 percent owned by the city council. The Government has a 25 percent stake in it. So, for all intents and purposes, the council owns and runs it. Just like it owns ChristchurchNZ.

ChristchurchNZ has its own Board and is a bit of an arms-length operation. But there’s no escaping the fact that we have two city council outfits completely at odds with each other.

ChristchurchNZ wants to get more people coming here and not treating the city as just a gateway. The airport company wants to make it easier for people to fly directly to Queenstown and Wanaka, and avoid Christchurch altogether.

Is this as weird to you, as it is to me? I don’t think it’s weird. I think it’s nutbar. And I think the airport company should just forget about it.

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