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	Asphalt (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 and C-17 Globemaster III types have been known to use this runway in extreme conditions. [1].

1 Terminal Statistics
2 Military Operations
3 Expansion
4 Airlines and Destinations
5 External links

[edit] Terminal Statistics

Christchurch International Airport, December 2005

[edit] Domestic Parking positions

Jetways: 5
No Jetway: 15

[edit] International Parking positions

Jetways: 9
No Jetway: 2

[edit] Aircraft Movements

2006 - 124,464

[edit] Passenger Movements

2006 - 4,965,502
2005 - 5,542,816

[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. The C-5 Galaxy aircraft also makes the occasional appearance, although it has been noticeably absent in recent times. 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 an expansion project. The construction of the new multi-storey carpark building began in early 2006 and opened early 2007, providing 570 new premium carparks in addition to 1100 uncovered carparks.

The new 45m tall Control Tower which will be positioned near the new Carpark building is due to begin construction early 2007.

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 as of February 2007:

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