Wanaka Airport

Wanaka Airport

IATA: WKA – ICAO: NZWF

WKA
Location of airport in New Zealand

Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Wanaka Town Board and Management Committee
Location Wanaka
Hub for Aspiring Air
Elevation AMSL 1,142 ft / 348 m
Coordinates 44°43′21″S 169°14′45″E / 44.72250°S 169.24583°ECoordinates: 44°43′21″S 169°14′45″E / 44.72250°S 169.24583°E
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
11/29 3,937 1,200 Asphalt

Wanaka Airport (IATA: WKA, ICAO: NZWF) is the airport servicing the town of Wanaka, Otago, New Zealand and the surrounding ski fields. It is also the host of the biennial Warbirds over Wanaka air show and serves as a base for sightseeing flights to Milford Sound and Mount Aspiring National Park. The airport is located beside Highway 6, which is 10 km south-east from the centre of Wanaka township on a plateau above the small hamlet of Luggate. It replaced the original Mt Iron airstrip that was used up until 1985.

The lack of a VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) beacon at the airport poses an issue for some aircraft. Not many aircraft have appropriate GPS systems to enable non-precision instrument approaches in bad weather.

The airport is the site of the biennial Warbirds over Wanaka international airshow. The National Transport and Toy Museum and the Warbirds & Wheels museum[1] are also located at the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled services were operated by Air New Zealand's 19 seater Beechcraft 1900D to Christchurch, this finished on 30 January 2013.[2] The larger Queenstown airport is only an hours drive to the south and shuttle bus providers operate a high frequency of transfer services. Local businesses have attempted to run a charter service during the ski season and have proposed to Air New Zealand using a seasonal service with larger more capable Q300 type aircraft operated by subsidiary Air Nelson for the mid-2013 season. Air New Zealand continue to fly to Wanaka during the 3 day Air Show weekend.[3]

Non scheduled services are made by Vincent Aviation to Te Anau and Wellington, Aspiring Air, and Glenorchy Air from Queenstown and Glenorchy. Southernalpsair operates flights from Wanaka to Milford Sound.[4]

At the moment the runway's PCN value is too low to cope with heavier aircraft, along with restrictions on the passenger capacity of aircraft due to the limited airport facilities, however larger aircraft (such as Dash8-Q300 and ATR 72) can operate into the airport, usually on charter services. Wanaka Airport does have consent rights to extend the current runway westward by 500 meters with an additional 240 meters for standard overrun requirements.

Wanaka Airport terminal

External links

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Warbirds and Wheels - Contact and find us". Warbirds and Wheels. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  2. ↑ http://www.voxy.co.nz/business/eagle-air-suspends-flights-wanaka/5/140566
  3. ↑ http://www.warbirdsoverwanaka.com/tours_and_charters.html
  4. ↑ http://www.southernalpsair.co.nz/map/southern-alps-air-map.pdf