QAC to look at setting the record straight

WANAKA Airport watchers could be about to get some idea of what development might, or might not, happen there.

Queenstown Airport Corporation [QAC] chief executive Colin Keel said yesterday, in response to Otago Daily Times questions, the corporation will ‘‘look to address the misinformation circulating in the community’’.

This follows Thursday’s Queenstown Lakes District Council [QLDC] meeting where Mayor Jim Boult and councillors were concerned about ‘‘illinformed comments’’, and urged the QAC to provide more information about its plans for Wanaka Airport.

QAC’s master plan for a dualairport arrangement involving both Queenstown and Wanaka airports is due to be completed later this year.

In an email to Mr Keel after Thursday’s meeting, deputy mayor Calum MacLeod, of Wanaka, said there was ‘‘a lot of fear and angst in the Wanaka community that we will become the default ‘fix’ for the Queenstown airport noise boundaries issues.

‘‘This should not be just permitted to happen.

‘‘This issue needs to be addressed and frontfooted by both QLDC and QAC.’’

Mr MacLeod said the Wanaka community ‘‘deserves to see specifics’’ such as the number and type of aircraft that would use the airport.

‘‘There is a lot of misinformation out in the Wanaka community — jetliners, international flights, wide body jets.

‘‘In the absence of quality information, the community will fill this void with rumour and supposition.’’

In a Facebook post, the Wanaka Airport Action Group agreed there had been ‘‘a raft of conflicting and misleading information’’, and noted Mr Boult told Thursday’s meeting he imagined two flights in the morning and two flights in the evening for the foreseeable future.

‘‘The more likely figure would be 15 flights a day,’’ the post said.

One of the group’s founders, Andrew Waterworth, said this week Wanaka Airport had been ‘‘upgraded’’ in the QAC’S statement of intent (SOI) for 202022, getting ‘‘equal billing’’ with Queenstown Airport on the front page.

‘‘The previous SOI only had Queenstown airport.’’

It also referred to the ‘‘dualairport’’ business model nine times.

‘‘That term wasn’t used in the previous SOI.’’

The statement also said Queenstown and Wanaka airports were ‘‘part of a national network of critical infrastructure assets which connect residents and visitors to the Southern Lakes region’’.

‘‘This wasn’t in the previous SOI.’’

And, Mr Waterworth noted, the SOI said it would ‘‘implement the dualairport plan’’ in the 2021 financial year.

‘‘These statements and increased investment by QAC strongly suggest QAC’s interest in expanding Wanaka’s Airport to become a much larger commercial operation,’’ he said.