CALL FOR AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
A WANAKA man has called on the Government to take over planning of air services to the Central OtagoLakes District.
Retired civil engineer Nick Page told the Otago Daily Times he had written to Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis, asking them to ‘‘take control’’ of the process.
Mr Page said he believed the process being followed was ‘‘fundamentally flawed’’ and the solutions offered by the Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) ‘‘may not be the best for the region or the country’’.
QAC, which is majority owned by the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC), has put on hold its plans to expand Queenstown Airport but is considering a major development of Wanaka Airport.
Air New Zealand has suggested a better option would be to build a single, new airport in another location to serve all the region’s air traffic.
It has not said where.
Mr Page said the suggestion prompted him to write to the Government because he believed airport development for the Central Otago and Northern Southland area was an issue of ‘‘regional and national significance’’.
He believed airport development was being ‘‘driven and approached in a piecemeal fashion’’ for commercial benefit rather than to ‘‘deliver the optimal airport outcomes for the region and the country’’.
And Mr Page said in his letter he believed there were too many conflicts of interest between the QAC and the QLDC.
‘‘The holistic issue of airport and associated infrastructure development in the region must be addressed by a truly independent body for a truly impar tial, high level assessment of the options.
‘‘We need and deserve a process that properly examines all the options for airports in the region and that is independent of the existing interested parties.’’
Both Otago MPs, Jacqui Dean and Hamish Walker, believed the current process was satisfactory, Mr Walker saying ‘‘the last thing we want this Government to do is nationalise the Queenstown Airport and get involved in a local decision’’.
‘‘We don’t want the Government owning airports.’’
Queenstown Mayor Jim Boult declined to comment, but deputy mayor Calum Macleod said an airport had not been built in the 27 years of the Resource Management Act.
‘‘So, if you are talking about a new airport, central Government would have to be involved.
‘‘If you are talking about expanding Wanaka, well maybe that’s something that can be done inhouse.’’