COST £890,000

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22011, 3 May 1946, Page 4

COST £890,000

RON GOT A SCHEME NO OVERSEAS PLANES ALL INTERNAL SERVICES (P.A.) WELLINGTON, May 2. Estimates of costs at the completion of tl:c four stages of the development of Rongolai as Wellington's airport total £590,000. This is made up as follows: Stage one, £400.000: stage two, . £230.000; stage three, £50.000; stage four, £160,000. The special committee, in its report, points out that these estimates are approximate only, as a detailed survey especially of the sea bottom at the reclamations is not available. The committee explains that the _ estimates allow for acquiring a new site and the rebuilding of Rongotai College, the acquiring of 28 acres of the golf links, the provision of necessary roading and services and the moving of displaced houses, and the landing strip completed with a concrete runway, taxiway and connecting strips. Cost of Land Not Included Apart from this the cost of the land has not been included, nor have the terminal buildings, service equipment and facilities, although they will, of course, be required and will amount to a considerable sum depending on the scale on which it is found desirable to provide them. The committee also states that if it is decided to fill the Evans’ Bay reclamation by borrowed material to provide for displaced houses, the estimates would'be increased by £BO,OOO. In an appendix to the report on the provision of an airport for Wellington, Air Commodore’ A. Nevill, deputy Chief of the Air Staff and a member of the special committee, deals with technical aspects of the development of Rongotai aerodrome. "An airport’s size,” he states, “is intimatey related to economy of operation, to the size and design characteristics of transport aircraft, and to regulatory standards imposed in the interests of safety. The underlying principle of all modern regulations is that the failure of one engine shall not create serious hazards.” Air Commodore Nevill said the Dominion waf bound to conform to international airport standards where the New Zealand airports were catering for overseas services. Three Classes of Airports New Zealand was faced with the provision of an airport of international standards for trans-Pacific and transTasman aircraft. He named a number of modern machines requiring runways of not less than 6000 feet, and said that the international conference at Chicago had laid down three classes of airports: Class A, with a runway of at least 7000 feet; Class B, at least 5000 feet; Class C, at least 3500 feet. It was not practicable to provide a Class A runway at Rongotai, but Wellington was not geographically placed in relation to projected international air routes to warrant the establishment of an airport for transoceanic aircraft, that is, Class A. The capital city must necessarily be involved in the provision of an airport of sufficient size for the operation of the types of aircraft to provide economical transport on the internal main trunk route. He named a number of types of aircraft likely to be used in New Zealand during the next decade, requiring runways 3700 to 4700 feet. Air Commodore Nevill said Rongotai, with the prevailing winds north and south and south and north, would not need more than one runway. His conclusion is that the proposals now made will' definitely provide an airport which will meet the requirements of internal commercial air transport within the Dominion in the foreseeable future, whereas any airport incapable of expansion to these standards will, it it 'almost inevitable, be abandoned in the next few years.