Great expectations for airport
Hamilton Airport’s fortunes might be flying high, but those in the pilots’ seats are being instructed to keep plenty of fuel in the tank for some opportune trips overseas.
That was the message delivered to Waikato Regional Airport Ltd chairman Barry Harris and chief executive Mark Morgan by Hamilton City councillors at the inaugural meeting of the economic development committee on Tuesday.
At the behest of the politicians, the council’s staff had written up a ‘‘letter of expectation’’ that was the shareholder’s response to WRAL’s own ‘‘statement of intent’’. In that letter the council urged the airport company management to move to ‘‘a proactive near-term approach to encourage international air services’’.
Revisions to a draft of that letter were meant to be discussed in the public excluded section of the meeting but, after deeming that nothing too commercially sensitive would be revealed, committee chairman Ryan Hamilton allowed the matter to be discussed in the open.
The revised letter urged the airport bosses to protect the airport’s international designation, and be mindful of potential future opportunities to extend the runway capability.
‘‘The company is encouraged to become more proactive in the development of additional aviation activity at the airport, including an increase in domestic and international passenger services and air freight,’’ the letter states. ‘‘In particular WRAL should pursue new international air service opportunities (charter and scheduled) where it can, with an initial focus on international airport city pairing that match existing runway capability, notably east coast Australia and the Pacific rim.’’
Chief among those urging Harris and Morgan not to switch to autopilot was councillor Ewan Wilson, who reckoned the statement of intent was lacking in scope.
Wilson has a long association with Hamilton Airport. He was the founder of the failed Hamilton-based domestic carrier Kiwi Regional Airlines, which folded in 2017; and the transTasman Kiwi International Airlines, which fell to earth in 1994.
‘‘The only reference [in the statement of intent] to international . . . is private, medical and corporate aircraft,’’ he told Morgan and Harris.
Harris confirmed the airport’s board of directors had ‘‘not been out proactively pursuing international opportunities’’.
‘‘The crucial thing moving forward . . . [is] the board’s willingness to entertain valueadding international routes and how best to understand what that looks like without it becoming an industry in its own right without any productive return.’’
Harris and Morgan had just delivered a glowing report on the business’ situation to the committee. Passenger growth was up about 9 per cent – and about 400,000 passengers were expected to pass through the airport in the 2019/20 financial year. The number of flight movements had dropped by 6000 to 61,000 in 2019, but this had followed an ‘‘exceptionally busy’’
2018.
In the 2018/19 financial year the company had returned a before-tax profit of just over $3 million.
‘‘Things are going well,’’ Harris declared.
‘‘Passenger numbers have been growing nicely, putting some strain on some infrastructure – but that’s a good problem to have.’’
Morgan added: ‘‘In the last four or five years the balance sheet has grown by $50m and the debt has grown by $10m.’’
Work was about to begin on a
$13m upgrade of the airport terminal to make it compliant with post-Christchurch Earthquake building codes. Hamilton Airport Hotel – now Jet Park Hotel – had recently completed a $4 million upgrade and was accredited by Qualmark as a 4-star hotel in December and currently accounted for 14 per cent of WRAL’s income. Previously it was just 2 per cent.
The HCC has a 50 per cent shareholding in the airport, with the Waipa¯ , Waikato and Matamata-Piako district councils each holding a 15.6 share. The Otorohanga District Council has a 3.3 per cent stake.