Airport ends its free hour
We were the only place in the country to offer one hour free parking.
Wayne Wootton, NP Airport chief executive
Free parking at New Plymouth’s airport is to be slashed and higher charges introduced to help pay for the terminal’s $28.7 million upgrade.
From February 12 the one-hour free parking will be cut to 20 minutes and hourly parking costs will go from $1 to $2.
The doubling of the hourly parking fee is to help pay for the multi-million dollar terminal upgrade, airport chief executive Wayne Wootton said.
‘‘We were the only place in the country to offer one hour free parking,’’ he said.
‘‘Now it’s more of a commercial business, we’re trying to align ourselves with other airports.’’
Wootton said there was the potential for the new charges to be reviewed again when the terminal upgrade was finished.
‘‘We’re not going to the full extreme. We’re going to see how it goes.’’
Ian Scott, of Scott’s Airport Shuttle, expected the increase to make people resistant to using the carpark at first but he believed drop-off behaviour would ‘‘go back to normal’’ in time.
While it may have a positive spin-off for the shuttle business and taxis as people sought to avoid parking charges, he said the reduction of time for free parking could have unexpected outcomes.
Instead of parking and entering the airport to wait for a plane to arrive, Scott said people might drive around the airport roads waiting for the plane to land.
‘‘Which is not something you’re supposed to do,’’ he said.
‘‘That could cause problems for shuttles and taxis and then they’ll have to pay to police the area.’’
Initial reactions on social media were mostly negative.
Many said the move was unfair and some said they would no longer wait inside the airport, or grab a cup of coffee.
Barbara Smith commented: ‘‘Basically that makes it a drop off and go. Not good, it doesn’t send a positive message to the tourists New Plymouth needs.
‘‘For locals it is a clear message that we are not wanted there.’’
But Wootton believed the changes were fair and reasonable and he believed people would happily pay for parking, especially when the new terminal was complete.
‘‘Because there will be more to see.’’
Wootton said other airports charged more and offered less time for free parking. Palmerston North and Hamilton airports allow for 15 minutes free parking and charge $3 an hour after that. In Wellington the free parking allowance is just 10 minutes and then $2 an hour.
New Plymouth District Council initially approved $19.3m for a new terminal but increased that cost by $9.4m to $28.7m in April when a recommendation was made that the terminal be bigger.
The larger terminal would be funded through airport revenue such as landing charges, tenant rents and car parking fees. The parking charges at New Plymouth’s airport will increase to $2 an hour with a maximum of $16 a day for four days. Days five and six will decrease to $12 and $11, respectively, and weekly costs will remain the same at $80.