Auckland Airport spends up big

Auckland International Airport is spending $1 million every working day to help cope with the substantial growth in passengers travelling through Auckland.

And with the thick end of $350m of construction projects being around the corner, chief executive Adrian Littlewood was confident more changes would be noticed in the next year or so.

The airport’s after-tax profit for the six months to December 31 was up more than 22 per cent to $141.8m.

Revenue rose nearly 11 per cent to $310.9m, as total passenger numbers in the period got close to 9.5 million.

Auckland Airport chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden said the first half of the year had been strong for the growth of tourism to New Zealand.

As a result, the airport was investing significantly in its infrastructure which would improve capacity, the quality of journeys through the airport, and access to, from, and around the airport.

At least $1m was being spent on more than 40 projects, but the growth in passengers was also putting pressure on Auckland’s transport.

‘‘Given the importance of air connectivity for New Zealand’s travel, trade and tourism sectors, improving land transport access to Auckland Airport must remain a priority for central and local government transport agencies.

‘‘We look forward to this year’s completion of the $1.4 billion Waterview Connection and the $146m upgrade of the State Highway 20A/Kirkbride Road intersection.’’

Littlewood said there were now 28 international airlines servicing Auckland - up 50 per cent in the last 18 months.

It was always working on attracting more, but it could often take about two years of work to do so.

Furthermore, the airport was focussed on ensuring all the routes which had started would be profitable. ‘‘We don’t like airlines come and go.’’

As such, there would be some adjustments and balancing as airlines pulled back on off-peak periods.

The airport had warned passengers before Christmas to give themselves an extra half an hour as it braced for its busiest ever summer, and attracted criticism to have for traffic congestion issues around the airport.

Littlewood said he was very pleased with the way the airport handled the summer growth, but said transport remained one of its top priorities.

Auckland Airport was never designed for people, he said, and as such it was working on solutions to take cars off the road in its inner network, particularly for workers in the business area around it, who would regularly travel to the airport itself.

But with big projects coming on stream over the next five years, Littlewood said there were major changes around the corner.

‘‘The next six to 15 months we’ll see some quite important capital additions there.’’

Otherwise, the airport wanted to ensure the country remained a world-class tourism destination.

A new 250-room, 5-star hotel would be built at the airport, developed with Tainui Group Holdings and operated by AccorHotels under the Pullman brand.

Each Boeing 777 which came added $200m in export earnings to the country, he said.

But while the inbound tourism growth was a fantastic story, work needed to be done to ensure tourism infrastructure, particularly in the regions, kept up with the growth.

‘‘Tourism’s really earned its stripes as a contributor to the economy.

‘‘It’s both an exciting time and a time for working.’’