Airport’s $300m transport hub nearing the runway
Auckland Airport is spending $300 million on a transport hub and setting aside land for light rail near its international terminal.
The company is also installing a $100m new smart baggage hall and system designed to transform luggage handling as part of a planned combined domestic and international terminal.
Built to double height, the ground floor of the four-storey building will accommodate buses as well as cars, with the upper floors featuring smart car parking, electric vehicle charging stations and office spaces. It will also house an office building.
The first part of the project, a dropoff and pick-up area will be finished later next year.
Another part of the transport hub area could accommodate rapid transit such as light rail if that is the preferred Government and Auckland council option. The airport had taken steps to set aside land for an integrated mass transit station, while the inner forecourt road will remain dedicated to buses and commercial transport.
The airport’s chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui said the new transport hub would be funded by debt and was being started now as passenger numbers recovered.
“It’s a little bit back to the future because we had great plans underway and then Covid made all of us stop and pause and rethink things. But — in effect we’re starting a new chapter.” While the transport hub is being built the 750-space Car Park A is closing from June 8 and all public car parking (short and long term) is relocating to car parks D and E. They are a five to 10 minute walk
from the terminal and Hurihanganui said they would be cheaper than the existing main car park because they were further away.
There would be more car parking spaces in the new hub and a direct connection to the combined international and domestic terminal, she said.
The project is also the critical initial step in enabling the long-planned new combined domestic and international terminal, a $1 billion project. She said the speed of airline recovery would dictate when work on the replacement domestic terminal started and it would take about five years to build.
Other major developments include demolition of the international terminal’s eastern baggage hall, making way for the development of the high-tech baggage handling system. Passengers would be able to check bags in well ahead of check-in now. Hurihanganui said manual bag handling was one of the key safety risks to staff.
Demolition of the eastern bag hall will be done alongside other works to clear the eastern airfield for the future construction of a new domestic pier connected to the existing international terminal.