Airport expansion starts
I’d be pushing for that rail if I could. And Kaikohe is a fabulous town. It’s a bit of a has-been but it’s all there. The soil, climate and rainfall is so good. This could be a Pukekohe for the country - a huge food basket.
Sailing in the Bay of Islands...being out on the boat in the Bay. Work to expand the terminal building at the Bay of Islands airport in Kerikeri is set to start in April.
Airport owner and operator Far North Holdings say work to modernise the facility is expected to be finished by December, in time for the start of the peak tourism traffic. Passenger numbers have grown by a third since Air New Zealand started flying larger aircraft on the Auckland-Kerikeri route, with a record 98,844 people flying into or out of the airport between July 2016 and June 2017.
The expanded airport will have automated check-in, roomier departure and arrival areas, and a separate luggage collection area. During construction the check-in and departures area will be moved into space currently used by the Bay of Islands Aero Club.
Far North Holdings chief executive Andy Nock says work on the project was originally planned for last year but was pushed back to future-proof the design against the potential introduction of new security requirements for domestic airports in New Zealand.
A public meeting will be held at the RSA in Kaikohe at 5pm on March 5 and at the Turner Centre in Kerikeri at 5pm on March 6 to ‘‘brief these communities about what travellers can expect during construction, and about what the finished terminal will look like,’’ Nock says.