Opening of new Wellington Airport Terminal

 

On 22 June 1999 Wellington's Evening Post newspaper published this special inset to celebrate the opening of the new Wellington Airport terminal, replacing the former aircraft factory that long served as the only terminal and in latter years was the Air NZ domestic terminal, and integrating with the international and Ansett terminals, to have a single modern Wellington airport terminal. Below is every page of this feature inset, including the advertisements of the era.

Page 2 summarises facts about the airport noted the terminal area is 33,644 m2,  The total cost was $42m and was part of a $116m of development for the airport. 3.5m passengers per annum were seen at 1999 and forecast to be 6m by 2011.  (it was 6.4m in 2019).  The article on the terminal noted it was the first multi-user terminal in Australasia, combining domestic, international and commuter airlines sharing the same facility.

Notable at the bottom of the page is Ansett NZ advertising opening of its new Golden Wing Lounge, which would close in 2001 (with the space subsequently used by Qantas for its domestic Qantas Club, until it abandoned flying domestically in NZ by transferring services to Jetstar in 2009).

Page 3 describes the airport open day.

Page 4 has an article by then Mayor, Mark Blumsky which notes that international passenger number are up 34% between 1985 and 1999, and an article briefly summarising the airport's history. 

Page 5 has articles about the airport open day.

Page 6 has an article on security and avoiding the "Y2K bug".

Page 7 has an article about preventing bird strikes.

Page 8 has articles about The Flower Factor and the Sunglass Store.

Page 9 has articles about the CD Store and Oceanic Arts. 

Page 10 is an advertisement for shopping at the airport.

Page 11 has an article on the airport fire service, but also an ad for Air Marlborough which flew scheduled services to Blenheim (and ceased operations later that year).  The ad for Soundsair is one of the few for an airline still operating today.

Page 12 has a short article about the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry focusing on quarantine, but also interestingly has an ad for Origin Pacific Airways, which competed with Air NZ on multiple routes at the time (and ceased scheduled services in 2006). 

Page 13 has an article about the Customs service, and upgrade to the duty free shopping (with one shop at departures and one at arrivals).

Page 14 is an ad for visiting Wellington.

Page 15 focuses on development of the main catering facilities for passengers in the main part of the terminal.

Finally is the airport's largest customer, Air New Zealand.

Wellington Airport: the saga of the domestic terminal

The saga of Wellington's domestic airport terminal was one from the 1960s through to the end of the 1990s, and one that more recent generations know not of, but it was the embarrassment of the 1970s and 1980s for Wellington in the way that water infrastructure is looking like in the mid 2020s.

When Wellington Airport was opened in 1959, its (then only) terminal was a temporary building, having been a De Havilland aircraft factory from the 1920s.  It has a range of characteristics that became infamous over the years. It would leak, it was draft ridden and in winter, cold.  All aircraft were boarded using steps as entrance onto the tarmac was at ground level.  In 1977 a new international terminal was built adjacent, as part of a plan to rebuild the whole terminal, but as it was a joint central/local government venture, there was no agreement on which entities would pay how much to pay for new capital investment. The international terminal served on average one or two flights a day at the most, and only to Australia.  It wasn't until Ansett New Zealand emerged on the scene in 1987, intending to build its own separate new terminal (adjacent to international), that the old terminal got significantly refurbished, at the cost of Air NZ, keen to not be seen to have a second-rate terminal.  It introduced airbridges, carpet, a lounge and improved the lighting and heating considerably.

However, the present day terminal emerged as a result of reforms starting in 1988 to corporatise and subsequently in 1998 part privatise the airport, so that it could operate as a business, borrow against landing charges and revenue raised from airlines, retail concessions and parking.  Political arguments and finger pointing between central and local government ended immediately, as it was clear the airport could raise the finance and pay for a new terminal itself.

In 1999 the new terminal opened, integrating the international and Ansett buildings into one, and is the terminal known today.

Below is a series of clippings highlighting some of the moments in recent history surrounding the debate over replacing the terminal.  I have a great deal more of this in my files that I have yet to dig out, so apologies for the haphazard nature of it...

The "Tin Shed Report" was a multipart series of articles in the Evening Post in 1985 questioning why there has been no progress on a new terminal.  The first was the Managing Director of Challenge Properties (which would later merge with Fletchers to become Fletcher Challenge) proposing that it be a property development that it could lead, but local politicians thought its proposals were "unrealistic". The second article was the then WCC Design Engineer discussing the Challenge plan, including plans for commuter airlines to use the international terminal check-in (which was underutilised with only one or two flights a day). The third article was then Miramar electorate MP, Labour's Peter Neilson describing how the Council had prioritised the international terminal and then a runway extension over the domestic terminal replacement.  WCC had called for the Government to fund its proposed runway extension as a priority, but the Government had rejected it (the local pressure at the time was due to Air NZ having dropped international flights from Wellington, as it had disposed of its McDonnell Douglas DC-8 aircraft and neither DC-10s nor Boeing 747-200s could operate 

The then Lange Government had proposed that funding for a new terminal would be split evenly between Central Government and WCC, and was dependent on WCC accepting a more corporate structure for Wellington Airport (within three years the Government corporatised the airport, along with corporatisation of multiple airports around the country).  At the time the concern was that WCC was delaying progress in agreeing on a new corporate structure.

2 October 1985 Wellington airport terminal

This truncated part of the editorial in 1985 had the Evening Post view of the time, which was that WCC wanted Wellington to be a "special case" that should get full government funding for a new terminal, which was not the government's position at the time.

14 October 1994 - success of Wellington Airport company

The corporatisation of Wellington Airport was reported by the Evening Post to be a success, with a modest profit.  Note at the time it was 66% owned by the Crown and 33% by Wellington City Council.  The editorial notes some would say "who would want to buy it" if it were privatised, given constraints on its location.  It noted the airport company has increased landing fees, increased income from retail concessions and parking, and cut spending. It notes new airport terminals will be built in four years.  The editorial indicates if more airlines are to come to Wellington, the airport has to improve.

Cook Strait News 25 July 1994

Cook Strait News was a local eastern suburbs newspaper in Wellington. This ad from the airport company reports on its twenty-year masterplan depicting visually how it intends to use its land.  Perhaps the most notable part that did not proceed, is bridging over the Cobham Drive end of the runway.

On the eve of the opening of the new terminal in June 1999, the Evening Post produced this two page cutaway of the terminal, with some history and statistics. By this time Wellington International Airport Limited was 66% privately owned (Wellington City Council retains a 33% shareholding). It would be fair to say, the transformation is unrecognisable compared to the "old tinshed"

50 years since NAC - last flight of the HS748 - first 777 to NZ

The National Airways Corporation (NAC) was formed in 1947 by the first Labour Government by nationalising a number of smaller private airlines and using transport aircraft of the RNZAF.  It was set up to be the statutory monopoly domestic airline, but also short-haul international services in the South Pacific until 1955.  The article from 1997 commemorates 50 years since it was set up, but of course it was merged with the, up till then, international only, Air New Zealand, in 1978. 

NAC reflected a philosophy of central planning of the expansion of domestic airline services across New Zealand, by a state-owned monopoly carrier, which was expected to operate at a modest profit, and accompanied development of airports across the country. It culminated in 1966 when Taupo and Oamaru were added to the network.  

The article paralleled launch of a book by NAC's last general manager, Doug Patterson, who passed away in 1993. It summarises the history of NAC.

26 May 1997 - Evening Post - 50 years since NAC formed

On 13 February 1996, the Dominion noted the last flight of Mount Cook Airline's Hawker Siddeley HS748 into Wellington, as it was replaced by the ATR72.  It also noted the first arrival of a Boeing 777-200ER (of Cathay Pacific) being flown for certification purposes. Boeing 777-200ER would become a frequent visitor to NZ in subsequent years, and Air NZ would acquire a fleet of them and operate them from 2005 to 2021.

Eagle Airways Timetable 29 October 1985

 

Cover and schematic route map

Bargain fares and contents

Passenger information

Passenger information and standard fares

Auckland and Gisborne departures

Gisborne and Hamilton departures

Hertz and Bargain fares

Napier and New Plymouth departures

New Plymouth, Palmerston North and Rotorua departures

Rotorua, Tauranga, Wanganui and Wellington departures

Wellington departures and Southern Cross Airways

Cookson's Airline Division

Eagle Airways was one of the most successful airlines to take advantage of the 1982 deregulation of the airline industry, although its history dates back to 1969 organisationally, and 1975 for the first type of airline service.  A detailed history is available here but by 1985 it was owned by NZI Finance and already had an automated computerised reservation system, which linked to Air New Zealand, as it had grown to become a major North Island third level airline, having merged with Napier based Air Central. Eagle Airways was Hamilton based, and its largest aircraft was the Embraer Bandeirante which had 18 seats for passengers, plus a toilet, and although unpressurised, it was a significant step up from the 9 seat  Piper Chieftains or 5 seat Beechcraft Barons operated on some routes.  

This timetable highlights a number of aspects of the airline's service at the time:

• Checkin closed at 20 minutes before departure
• Baggage allowance was 16kg for a single item
• Standard fares ranged from $53 (Hamilton-Tauranga/Rotorua) to $142 (Wellington-Auckland) ($177 to $474 in today's prices exc. GST). Bargain fares ranged from $32 to $85 (seven days advance purchase)
• Children under 15 half fare, under 4yo not occupying a seat, free.
• Connecting services to  Southern Cross Airways (Auckland-Whangarei) and Cookson (Wairoa)
• Many routes hubbed through Hamilton (Auckland-Wellington was possible but a 2.5 hour flight via Hamilton and Palmerston North).

Direct routes were as follows:

• Auckland-Hamilton
• Gisborne-Hamilton
• Gisborne-Napier
• Hamilton-Napier
• Hamilton-New Plymouth
• Hamilton-Palmerston North
• Hamilton-Rotorua
• Hamilton-Tauranga
• Hamilton-Wanganui
• Napier-Palmerston North
• New Plymouth-Palmerston North
• New Plymouth-Wanganui
• Palmerston North-Wellington

What is perhaps most notable about this era was how well connected a LOT of regional cities and towns were with each other with such services, much more so than today. 

By 1988 Eagle Airways and Air Nelson had started working together, effectively enabling tickets to be sold connecting across both islands, but this was all to change later than year when Air New Zealand saw the opportunity with the disposal of its Fokker F27 Friendship fleet to acquire an efficient smaller airline to operate regional services, and bought 50% of both Eagle Airways and Air Nelson.  This saw Eagle Airways coming under the Air New Zealand umbrella, with it taking over services from Auckland to Kaitaia, Whangarei and Gisborne, and progressively took over many of the North Island Air New Zealand routes.  More Embraer Bandeirantes were acquired later supplemented by Swearingen Metroliners.  In 1993, Air New Zealand bought the remaining 50% of Eagle Airways making it a fully owned subsidiary.  The subsidiary would remain for many years, with its staff and operations subject to their own conditions and management, fitting in with the wider Air New Zealand network (as did Air Nelson and Mt Cook Airlines). The final chapter was the introduction in 2001 of the Beechcraft 1900D to replace all of the legacy Eagle Airways fleet, so Eagle Airways was the operator of the smallest aircraft in the Air New Zealand family, with 19 seats, flying to the lowest density airports.  The Beech 1900D would fly on until 2016 when Air New Zealand decided to close Eagle Airways as it could not find an economical replacement for the aircraft, and routes that could not be transitioned to the De Havilland Dash-8 were closed.

Eagle Airways had a significant presence in New Zealand airline history, which provided both access and competition to many regional centres that didn't previously exist, it was so successful its largest rival would simply buy it up and use its efficient and well honed operations to provide services to smaller airports.