Kia ora,
We take this opportunity to send our submission re the Wānaka Airport Future Review to you at Council through Let’s Talk, as the current community consultation appears to have no other avenue to submit beyond the online survey or the two drop-in sessions, neither of which we could attend. Could you please ensure it is forwarded to the Egis Review Team and confirm with us when this is done.
We submit on behalf of FlightPlan2050, an independent incorporated society and registered charity whose purpose is to advocate for the Central Lakes’ future airport infrastructure to ensure it best promotes the whole region’s future environmental, social, cultural, and economic well-being.
Our concern is that this Wānaka Airport Future Review is being undertaken in isolation without first considering the wider region’s air transport infrastructure needs and opportunities. We are concerned that current airport planning is fragmented between competing companies, councils, communities, and stakeholders. With no one applying a holistic regional approach, there is a real danger that a significantly suboptimal outcome could prevail.
We believe that developing and expanding Wānaka Airport, rather than pursuing alternative regional strategies, could lead to the most suboptimal outcome for the region’s social and economic growth, while also contributing to increased long-term carbon emissions. Such an outcome would be the antithesis of Egis’ purpose and values.
Egis’ stated purpose is “to help with solving the great equation of the 21st century: successfully blending improved people’s quality of life with supporting communities in their social and economic development, whilst drastically reducing carbon emissions and achieving vital 2050 net zero targets.” [Egis-group.com]
As a pre-eminent global consultant guided by the above purpose, we believe Egis has a role and responsibility to consider the broader context of specific projects in its advice to clients.
Therefore, while the thrust of our submission may sit outside the review’s specific terms of reference, we think it deserves your consideration.
Please accept our submission, attached, which comprises two reports, being:
- Our May 2020 analysis of alternative airport scenarios for the Southern Lakes region. This analysis of seven possible future scenarios found that a single regional airport located in the Cromwell-Tarras Valley, combined with the closure of Queenstown Airport to facilitate the development of a high-density, mixed-use, metropolitan centre on Frankton Flats, would offer by far the best social, economic and environmental benefits for the region.
and -
Our May 2023 report that highlights how a structural change to the district’s underlying urban spatial framework, by creating a high-density metropolitan centre on Frankton Flats enabled by a new regional airport, would systemically enable greater sustainable prosperity for local communities while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The scenario analysis undertaken in 2020 assumed QAC would develop and own the proposed new airport. Since then, Christchurch International Airport Ltd purchased an ideal site near Tarras and is prepared to fund and establish the proposed airport. This releases QAC from the cost of financing a new airport, as was assumed in the scenario analysis. Instead, QAC could now pursue the far more lucrative prospect of creating a new city on Frankton Flats. With QAC owned and controlled by the Council, and owning as a single entity most of Frankton Flats, its long-term Frankton city development offers far more to the Council and community than just the substantial financial return. Therefore, the prospect that CIAL would build and operate the new airport significantly strengthens the report’s conclusion.
We note that the 2020 MartinJenkins alternative airport analysis also found that a new regional airport provided the district its best economic growth prospects.
Also, in Air New Zealand’s 2019 submission to QAC’s air noise boundary expansion proposal, Carrie Hurihanganui wrote “Air New Zealand does not consider increases to noise limits at QAC, even combined with investment into Wanaka Airport, will ultimately be sufficient to sustainably grow visitor arrivals and the associated economic health of central Otago”, and advocated for a new regional airport. Ms Hurihanganui is now CEO of Auckland Airport.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxton, while CEO of Air New Zealand, also called for a “bigger, bolder, braver conversation” about a new Otago regional airport in his address to the company’s 2018 AGM.
Despite these public calls and reports, Queenstown Lakes District Council has never engaged in any discussion or consultation on what might be the best option for the region’s airport infrastructure. While then-Mayor Jim Boult commissioned the MartinJenkins analysis, he did so under extreme public pressure in the lead up to an election, and there was no consideration of the report at any meeting or workshop of councillors once it was delivered.
QAC’s 2019 dual airport strategy, which proposed a $200-300 million investment to grow Wānaka Airport to the size of Queenstown’s by 2048, was never considered in its entirety by the district. Instead, the consultation was split to have the airport masterplans considered separately within each community, in a divide and rule approach. Its Wānaka Airport proposals were thwarted in court over a technicality, and its proposed expansion of air noise boundaries in Queenstown suffered the most significant public opposition yet seen in the district.
Instead of any proper consideration of potential benefits or synergies, both QLDC and QAC attacked CIAL’s Tarras airport proposal without any thought of a holistic approach.
While the Covid shutdowns and reduced travel took the pressure off these discussions, we now see in this Wānaka Airport Future Review a continuation of the dual airport strategy’s divide and rule approach, where people are asked to consider the parts in isolation but never the whole region’s needs.
We ask that you honour Egis’ purpose and values in undertaking this Wānaka Airport Future Review.
That would require you to consider the broader context by, for example, including in your consultation with the community the alternative options that a potential Tarras airport might offer. The ability, for example, to retain the local community control and maintain the character of Wānaka Airport for general aviation and events, as advocated by the Wānaka Stakeholders Group, with scheduled services routed through the proposed new airport near Tarras.
It would also cause you to explicitly acknowledge in your consultation and analysis the impacts that decisions relating to Wānaka Airport directly affect Queenstown Airport. Choosing not to expand scheduled services at Wānaka or to develop a new Tarras airport will drive all passenger growth and its attendant noise and congestion concerns into Queenstown Airport. An increased burden on Whakatipu communities, advocated by the Wānaka Stakeholders Group, but against which the Whakatipu communities have strongly objected.
We trust that Egis will hold to its noble purpose and international standing in undertaking and delivering on this Wānaka Airport Future Review.
As our website, submissions and publications attest, we have given considerable thought to the complex issues around the Central Lakes’ future airport infrastructure. We would welcome the opportunity to explore these issues with you further.
Thank you for your consideration.
Regards
David Jerram and John Hilhorst
Co-chairs of Flightplan2050 Inc