Invercargill Airport — BrandWiki

Invercargill Airport

Overview

Invercargill Airport

iata	IVC
icao	NZNV
type	Public
operator	Invercargill Airport Ltd
location	Invercargill
elevation-m	2
elevation-f	5
coordinates	-46.41222°N, 168.31278°W
website	http://www.invercargillairport.co.nz/
pushpin map	New Zealand
pushpin map caption	Location of Invercargill Airport in New Zealand
metric-rwy	yes
r1-number	04/22
r1-length-m	2,210
r1-length-f	7,251
r1-surface	Asphalt
r2-number	04R/22L
r2-length-m	695
r2-length-f	2,280
r2-surface	Grass
r3-number	07/25
r3-length-m	426
r3-length-f	1,398
r3-surface	Grass
r4-number	12/30
r4-length-m	913
r4-length-f	2,996
r4-surface	Grass
stat-year	2013
stat1-header	Passengers
stat1-data	270,924‡R1R‡
stat2-header	281,911‡R2R‡

Invercargill Airport is a fully secured controlled domestic designated airport located 1.6 km (one mile) west of the central business district of Invercargill at the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the southernmost controlled airport in New Zealand and the Commonwealth of Nations. Formed on land reclaimed from the Waihopai/New River Estuary in 1938, the airport was prone to flooding, notably in 1984 when it was inoperable for two months. The Invercargill City Council considered moving the airport back to Dawson Farm, Myross Bush, the original site up to 1942. Instead, a large flood protection scheme was built, but during its construction heavy rain and an unusually high tidal surge flooded it again in 1987.[3] There have been no problems since. The airport has a main secured terminal, a backup international secured terminal and 5 tarmac gates. Invercargill is the eleventh-busiest airport in New Zealand by passenger traffic.

History

Today's airport is located on what was a tidal estuary lake. The site was chosen as it is closer to the city than the original aerodrome, Dawson Farm, located a then considerable 10 km away northeast of Invercargill. The draining and stabilising of land began in 1936. The continual draining of the surrounding land was (and still is) achieved with the use of a large canal and tidal pumping system. It took until 1939 before a rudimentary landing strip was considered acceptable for light aircraft to land.

Growth

The runway was lengthened periodically over the years to cater for larger aircraft in time, such as NAC Fokker F27s (1961), NAC Vickers Viscount (1969), culminating with NAC's Boeing 737-200 type in 1975. Other aircraft such as RNZAF Boeing 727-100 and Ansett New Zealand BAe 146 s have used the runway with ease. Currently the runway length is 2210 metres.

Terminal facilities

The passenger terminal facilities originally developed around a striking "Festival of Britain" styled two-level structure built in 1963, which featured a distinctive lozenge-shaped roof and fully glazed airside walls giving great views of the runway from the upper deck. A ground-level outdoor viewing gallery allowed passengers and well wishers to mingle; this area was in 2002, closed to all but passengers. It was built against the original small 1956-built "temporary" terminal which was turned into the freight and baggage area. The small control tower in the original structure became a convenient skylight upon the completion of a standard NZCAA five-storey "flowerpot" control tower in 1962. A jetway was added by Air New Zealand in 1988 to ease passenger comfort during inclement weather. Airlines also provided premium club passenger lounges for their member patrons. As frequency of air services increased, the ground floor space became cramped while the upstairs space was usually empty. After Air New Zealand removed its jetway in 2012, it was decided to look at refurbishing the ground floor and extending it, or replace the structure which had to be brought up to new Earthquake safety codes.

New Terminal Building, 2016

In 2013 the airport announced a new terminal building was to be constructed at a cost of $13.3 million, with construction funded by Invercargill City Holdings Ltd (Holdco); the then current terminal was over 50 years old and had major seismic issues that needed to be brought up to new safety codes. It was deemed more economical to demolish and rebuild a new terminal. Construction of the new single-storey structure began in 2014 and gradually built over the site of the old terminal in three stages over approximately 20 months. Opened in 2016, it has an area of 2,900 m2, only slightly bigger than the existing terminal of 2,600 m2 but makes better use of the floor area. Air New Zealand installed a new premium passenger lounge for its frequent flyers. Fitted out in local materials to enhance the region's tourist attractions, the terminal is designed for further expansion. In 2019 a new secured passenger and baggage handling facilities were added for domestic (and occasional international) air services.[4][5]

Small is more

Regular jet services operated into the airport from 1975 until 1995, when Air New Zealand restructured all its secondary provincial routes after subsidiary Mount Cook Airline introduced the 68-seat ATR 72 -200 into service.[6] Though a turboprop aircraft similar in size to the Viscount, it allowed a higher frequency of departure choices up to eight every weekday including late evenings. The larger-capacity 737s were restricted to three departures a day (including a short morning flight to Dunedin and onto Wellington) with the last flight out at 1630hrs. Air New Zealand resisted local pressure not to remove the jets, convincing Southlanders that the smaller ATR (and later, Q300 ) aircraft would allow for a higher frequency of service with minimal time difference. When fellow subsidiary Air Nelson joined the Invercargill route with the 50-seat Q300 (an aircraft the size of a Fokker F27 -500), this allowed a new non-stop route to Wellington, giving Southlanders direct access to the nation's capital city. This service ended in January 2025 due to uneconomic passenger numbers.

Return of jet services

In December 2018 Air New Zealand announced it would introduce a direct service from and to Auckland, using the Airbus A320. This service commenced from 25 August 2019 with the arrival of the first Airbus A320 from Auckland, departing Invercargill the next day at 0600. Scheduled morning departures 0600 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and 0930 Saturday, and returning at 2130 on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. During the Covid Global Pandemic of 2019–21, flights to and from Auckland changed to a midday return service and have remained so since. Air New Zealand said the Auckland service proved there was a demand for non-stop flights to Auckland, and it had worked with locals to achieve this.[7] It is the longest domestic flight in New Zealand, covering 730 miles (1,170km) with the flight time of approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Made "Secured"

With the return of domestic jet services in 2019, the airport had to comply with international regulations. This has involved completely fencing in the airport perimeter, upgrading the rescue truck fleet, installing a screening area for departing passengers using jet services as well as x-ray machines for baggage. It also means the airport now has 24-hour security patrols. Being declared Secured also allowed the removal of restrictions to the occasional international flights that have to use the airport.