Airport plans

Press, 6 December 1985, Page 5

Airport plans

From page 1

Another recommendation covers the updating of the airport’s air management and radar systems. This prompted much discussion from councillors, who said the public confidence in airport safety was slipping because air traffic controllers had said the airport was not safe.

The master plan calls for the introduction of secondary surveillance radar and the replacement of the present Marconi radar as well as new Area Control Centre facilities. Crs Vicki Buck and John Burn argued strongly that radar improvement should be made immediately rather than 15 years hence. Mr John Carruthers, of the Civil Aviation Division, who was at the meeting, said a national review of airport control systems was under way. He hoped to put new equipment, including secondary radar, into Christchurch within three years. New radar equipment would cost $lO million and communication systems would be extra, he said. The responsibility for radar services lies with the Civil Aviation Division rather than the council as the airport authority. Mr Hugh McCarroll, the airport director, who presented the plan to the meeting, noted that development of the terminal was to the north-east. Some existing operations at the airport would have to be moved. One would be the Canterbury Aero Club. The master plan says the club should remain based at the airport but do its flight training somewhere else. The club’s hangar should be moved to the west side of the main runway. The west of the runway is

the eventual site of the United States’ base also. The plan recommends moving the base, although not for some years. Others to move would be the freight-forwarders. Mr McCarroll said the strongest point of the plan as a guide to the future was its flexibility. This was essential in coping with the predicted 75 per cent increase in domestic passengers and the doubling of international travellers. The plan could not be funded on present financial policy, Mr McCarroll said. The planners had assumed an increase in revenue from such areas as airport charges and a decrease in international revenue such as duty-free sales. This brought a small surplus, after development expenditure was deducted, in all but one of the years until 2005. The greater autonomy expected for airports to set their own charges was one of the main assumptions the planners made in projecting the airport’s finances to 2005. The financing of the project is the subject of a third report called for by the committee yesterday. A fourth report was asked for on the implementation of the Interim Phase and Phases 1 and 2.

The committee approved planning work to begin on the Interim Phase extensions to the existing terminal and the appointment of an airport planner, but baulked at appointing an airport property officer until it had more information.

Further staffing requirements associated with the master plan’s implementation w'ill be detailed in a fifth report.

The committee also recommended beginning the required land-use changes necessary under the Paparua District Scheme.