Lease end dates making hangar owners uncertain

THE Queenstown Airport Corporation has set March 31, 2025, as the end date for new leases being negotiated with several Wanaka Airport users.

The airport is in line for major commercial development, raising concerns among recreational flyers and general aviation busi nesses about their future there.

Correspondence provided to the Otago Daily Times this week shows the QAC’s deed of variation to leases ‘‘offers to extend the current lease to 31st March 2025’’.

After that, recreational flyers ‘‘seeking to maintain the recreational presence on the airport’’ could be offered the opportunity to continue to lease their premises for an unspecified additional term, or lease alternative premises.

The premises referred to are in most cases the land on which airport users have built their own hangars.

One Wanaka pilot who owns a hangar said yesterday he had a lease until 2025 but without the ability to extend his lease, his hangar would become worthless on that date.

And, he said suggesting an ‘‘alternative premises’’ might be available implied he might have to shift his hangar.

He understood one airport user had a lease through until 2038 and he could see no reason why others should not be granted a similar extension.

QAC general manager commercial and customer experience Olivia Pierre yesterday said until QAC completed its master plan for the airport later next year ‘‘we simply don’t know where general aviation and all the other infrastructure we need will be positioned on the airport’s footprint’’.

‘‘Until we have a master plan, we are working on a sevenyear tenure model for leases that have expired. We will look at new leases beyond 2025 once a master plan is drafted, consulted on and adopted by the community and our stakeholders.

‘‘Some leases currently are set to expire later than [2025].’’