Christchurch International Airport

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Christchurch International Airport
IATA: CHC - ICAO: NZCH
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Christchurch International Airport Limited
Serves		Christchurch
Elevation AMSL		123 ft (37 m)
Coordinates		43°29′22″S, 172°31′56″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
01/19	1,690	515	Grass (Aeroclub)
02/20	10,785	3,287	Asphalt - Primary
11/29	5,712	1,741	Asphalt - Secondary

Christchurch International Airport (IATA: CHC, ICAO: NZCH) is the primary airport that serves Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located 12 kilometres to the northwest of the city centre, in the suburb of Harewood. The airport is about to embark on a major upgrade costing over $200 million, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2009, due to increasing passenger numbers.

Garden City Helicopters operates from a base adjacent to the airport. They have a medivac service using fixed wing aircraft and also operate the rescue helicopter in Canterbury with a secondary helipad in Hagley Park adjacent to Christchurch Hospital (ICAO: NZJC).

Christchurch Helicopters also operate from the western side of the airfield, next to Canterbury Aero Club, which maintains a grass runway parallel to the primary runway.

The primary runway is oriented near perpendicular to Canterbury's Nor'wester föhn wind. For this reason, the secondary runway is a cross-runway (at a right angle to the primary runway), and is used during Nor'westers by all aircraft up to and including Boeing 767s. The Boeing 777 has been known to use this runway in extreme conditions. [1].

1 Terminal Statistics
- 1.1 Domestic
- 1.2 International
2 Military Operations
3 Expansion
4 Airlines and Destinations
5 Passenger Movements
6 External links

[edit] Terminal Statistics

[edit] Domestic

Parking positions - Jetways: 5
Parking positions - No Jetway: 15

[edit] International

Parking positions - Jetways: 9
Parking positions - No Jetway: 2

[edit] Military Operations

Since the closure of Wigram Air Force Base, the Royal New Zealand Air Force always flies to Christchurch International Airport when required to visit the city. There are regular RNZAF flights between the main centres of New Zealand. Prior to the withdrawal of the air combat wing, the RNZAF fighter aircraft were also seen at the airport.

With the development of Antarctic scientific expeditions since the 1950s, Christchurch Airport has been the base for all Antarctic flights operated by the United States Air Force and RNZAF. During the Antarctic flying season, which generally operates from August to February, C-17 Globemaster III, C-130 Hercules and LC-130 Hercules aircraft are often seen on the Antarctic Apron north of the main passenger terminals. Occasionally the C-5 Galaxy aircraft also operates for one or two flights early in the season onto the sea ice runway at McMurdo. All other aircraft types except for the LC-130, which is fitted with skis for snow landing, must operate on either sea ice or blue ice runways.

The C-141 Starlifter was also a regular visitor before its retirement from active service in 2005.

[edit] Expansion

Christchurch Airport is currently going under a expansion project. The building of the new carpark building began in early 2006. The new building will provide 590 undercover carparks and 20 undercover drop off spaces. The building is due to be completed by the end of the year.

When the carpark is completed the new 45m tall Control Tower which will be positioned near the new Carpark bulding will begin construction.

From January 2007 the new Check-In area and Domestic Terminal will begin to be built. The new Check-In area will be communal for both Domestic and International passengers. The new domestic terminal will comprise of an additional 3 Gates and 1 more baggage carousel. The old domestic terminal will be completely demolished to make way for the new terminal. All construction is expected to be completed by June 2009 [2]

[edit] Airlines and Destinations

The following airlines fly to the airport:

Air Chathams (Chatham Islands)
Air New Zealand (Auckland, Blenheim, Brisbane, Dunedin, Hamilton, Hokitika, Invercargill, Melbourne, Napier, Nelson, Osaka-Kansai, Palmerston North, Queenstown, Rarotonga, Rotorua, Sydney, Tokyo-Narita, Wellington)
Air Pacific (Nadi) (seasonal)
Emirates (Dubai, Sydney)
Freedom Air (Gold Coast, Nadi)
Pacific Blue (Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney)
Qantas (Sydney)
- Jetconnect (Auckland, Queenstown, Rotorua, Wellington)
- Jetstar Airways (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast)
Singapore Airlines (Singapore)
Korean Air (Seoul-Incheon) (seasonal)

Beginning 30 October 2006, Air New Zealand will begin operating a shuttle flight between Christchurch and Auckland for passengers connecting to International Flights in Auckland. This flight will depart and arrive at the international terminals with passengers clearing Customs in Christchurch. Passengers will simply need to transfer to their onward flight at the Auckland Internation Terminal. The Shuttle flight will connect to all flights to London Heathrow, Hong Kong and Shanghai and some flights to Los Angeles and Apia. The Flight will depart Christchurch at 8.45pm and Arrive into Auckland at 10.05pm. The Flight Number will be NZ302 and operated by a Boeing 737-300. The Flight will return to Christchurch the following morning and will connect with passengers arriving from Perth, Western Australia, Tonga and North America (Los Angeles / San Francisco).