Kapiti Coast Airport sees regular flights to Auckland again

A Q300 lands at the airport on 2 August 2011 on a proving flight.

The one-time important days of Paraparaumu airport, now renamed Kapiti Coast Airport, return to  a small extent with a new Air New Zealand service to Auckland launched today. Airport owner Noel Robinson has spent $3 million upgrading the runway and aviation services and $1 million developing a new terminal to pave the way for the new service. An official launch was held at the airport yesterday and the inaugural flight takes off this morning. Air Nelson, a subsidiary of Air NZ, is running the 18 return services a week using 50-seat Bombardier Q300 turbo-prop aircraft.

A new temporary terminal was created, with a quirky beach holiday theme, complete with an old wooden sign greeting arrivals with "Sorry, gone fishing" and straw umbrellas and outdoor furniture inside the building. The control tower now provides a flight information service. It is not the first attempt to operate a commercial service to Auckland from the airport. A service to the Wairarapa and Auckland was started more than 10 years ago, but it foundered when it failed to attract enough passengers.

The government acquired the airport in 1939 under the Public Works Act, but failed to offer it back to the original landowners before selling it to local businessman Murray Cole for $1.65 million in 1995. Descendants of former landowners were advised their offer-back issue should be taken to the High Court. Noel Robinson said a good working relationship had since developed with the original landowners. "The airport company fully respects the Public Works Act and will honour those agreements."

As those who have the book Wellington Transport Memories know, during the late 1940s and 1950s, Paraparaumu Airport served as Wellington's regional airport while Rongotai was being redeveloped.