COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL DELAY AT WELLINGTON MAY PROMOTE HAREWOOD AIRPORT

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31755, 12 August 1968, Page 12

COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL DELAY AT WELLINGTON MAY PROMOTE HAREWOOD AIRPORT

(By Our Parliamentary Reporter)

WELLINGTON, August 11.—The Government decision to defer the commencement of any major construction on Wellington Airport for at least two years has thrown into the discard plans sponsored by local interests to up-grade Rongotai or develop Paraparaumu to a stage where the Wellington complex could become New Zealand’s principal transTasman airport.

The three-man committee of independent experts appointed by the Minister of Civil Aviation (Mr Gordon) established that Rongotai Airport could be extended to 6900 feet to take Douglas DCB airliners, if full international status wefe decided upon, but that the cost would be $l4 million. Extension to 6270 feet, enabling the working of Boeing 7275, would cost $9.5 million. (The Boeing 727, not to be confused with the 737, is a medium-range three-jet airliner, the purchase of which has been suggested purely for trans-Tas-man operations.) It will take all of two years before it can be established whether the “special characteristics prejudicial to safe operation” which afflict Rongatai can be eliminated by the use of a suitable instrument landing system. In the meantime, construction priorities have been shifted to the Rarotonga aerodrome (needed for Air New Zealand’s trans-Pacific services) and Mangere. This means that the whole value of Wellington, as against Harewood and Mangere, as an entry-port into New Zealand will be fully evaluated before the bulldozers move again at either Rongotai or Paraparaumu.

A New Evaluation This gives added importance to an evaluation recently carped out by the Civil Aviation Department at the request of several members of Parliament.

The first part of the evaluation is based on the premise that a new airport is built at Paraparaumu for trans-Tas-man operation by DCB airliners, and the answers are based on a 53 per cent load factor (regarded as “breakeven” point), and on 1967-68 traffic levels.

The Civil Aviation Department experts believe that present requirements would need 11 return flights across the Tasman weekly, comprising seven to Sydney, three to Melbourne and one to Brisbane. The estimated operating costs (that is, staff and running expenses) of such an airport would be 8610 per return flight, offset by gross airport revenue (including dues) of $7OO per return flight. Thus the estimated total gross operating costs in terms of dollars a single passenger movement would be $5 offset by gross airport revenue (including dues) of $5.70 per passenger. Road travelling time be-

tween Wellington and Paraparaumu is between 50 and 60 minutes. This would produce the following estimated travelling times (including road travel, reporting, embarkation, disembarkation and Customs clearance) from the middle of Wellington to the middle of the undermentioned cities, through Paraparaumu: Sydney, shr 50min: Melbourne, 6hr 20min: Brisbane. 6hr smin.

The charge the Civil Aviation Department would need to make to “break even” on Paraparaumu operation, excluding all dues, and allowing 6 per cent interest on capital, would be $1390 per return flight, or $lO for each passenger. No Wellington?

The second part of the evaluation envisages that no trans-Tasman terminal is available at either Paraparaumu or Rongotai, and that traffic levels do not vary. This is likely to be the situation following the Government’s decision on Wellington Airport delay, but with Rongotai in full internal operation. It is assumed that all Brisbane flights will go from Auckland. The total number of return flights weekly out of Christchurch would be 15J, comprising 12 to Sydney, 3] to Melbourne.

The total travelling time for passengers from the centre of Wellington to the centre of the Australian city, including road travel, reporting, embarkation, disembarkation, Customs clearance, and one hour stop-over time at Christchurch, according to the Civil Aviation Department experts, would be: Sydney, 6hr 45min; Melbourne, 7hr. These times could be shortened by up to an hour by the use of special N.A.C. connecting flights with in-flight processing. Based on the same load factor, existing Auckland traffic plus a porportion of the passengers who now travel through Wellington would require 26] round trips weekly to the three Australian cities, comprising 20 to Sydney, 3 to Melbourne, 3] to Brisbane. Travelling times, worked out on the same basis as for Paraparaumu and Christchurch, would be: Sydney, 7 hr; Melbourne, 7hr 30min: Auckland-Brisbane, 7hr 45 min.

The Boeing 737 s are scheduled to operate three daily services each way from Wellington to Auckland and Christchurch, with the exception of

Saturdays. A Boeing 737 will fly from Wellington to Auckland in 47 minutes, and from Wellington to Christchurch in 32 minutes, to each of which must be added 13 minutes for taxi-ing and ground handling. In The Future

It may be noted that, according to the Civil Aviation experts, who may be assumed to be neutral, the building of a completely new Paraparaumu Airport would be for the principal result of enabling a Wellington-based passenger to reach Sydney 55 minutes sooner than he could through Christchurch, or one hour 10 minutes sooner than he could through Auckland.

On the other hand. If the Wellingtonian had his $l4 million Rongotai extension, he could reduce his travelling time by another full hour --for Rongotai’s great advantage is its proximity to the centre of the Capital. The most interesting development is the inclusion in the Minister’s statement of an estimate for the extension of Rongotai to 6270 feet for the operation of the three-jet Boeing 727. The cost of this extension is $4.5 million less than the cost of a full extension.

There could be another reason here for Wellington’s postponement. The purchase of two Boeing 727 s by Air New Zealand, merely to keep Wellington in the trans-Tasman picture, might be hard to justify. When, however, the Rongotai airstrip is advanced to full international capability, New Zealand will have another valuable tourist asset.

Australian tourists, having crossed the Tasman by Air New Zealand Boeing 727 airliner, will be able to fly right on to Rarotonga for a really mid-Paclfic tropic holiday.

This would be the ultimate plan for Rongotai. It would permit full utilisation for inland air traffic, a special status as a trans-Tasman airport —but not full international airport standing. But a great deal can happen in two years, as both airline planners and politicians are prepared to admit.