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87-510: Wellington International Airport ( IATA : WLG , ICAO : NZWN ) — formerly known as Rongotai Aerodrome or Rongotai Airport , or simply Wellington Airport — is an international airport located in the suburb of Rongotai in Wellington , the capital of New Zealand . It lies 5.5 km (3.0 nmi; 3.4 mi) south-east from the city centre. It is a hub for Air New Zealand and Sounds Air . Wellington International Airport Limited,

174-652: A FBO and hangar facility for corporate jets and visiting general aviation aircraft on the western apron. Other notable operators on the western apron include Life Flight, the RNZAF and the Wellington Aero Club. Beginning in 2002, the airport built a bulk retail centre on land it owned to the west of the airport. Between 2009 and 2019 the airport issued various plans outlining upgrades over the next 20 years, including expanded terminal and apron space, runway extensions, terminal extensions, new freight facilities and

261-492: A base in Evans Bay . Rongotai was still used for a frequent service to Blenheim and Nelson in 14-seater de Havilland Herons . Wellington Aero Club continued to operate from Rongotai, and the airport was also used occasionally by Royal New Zealand Air Force aircraft as well as ambulance aircraft transporting patients to Wellington Hospital . The Aircraft Engineering Company had a flying school with three aeroplanes based at

348-403: A 12.5 degree angle as if leaning into the prevailing northerly wind, and is built to stand up to a 10-metre high tsunami wave. The former control tower at Tirangi Road was then put up for sale by Airways New Zealand, but was found to be unsuitable for redevelopment due to structural issues and asbestos contamination. Wellington Airport bought the building and it was demolished in 2021. Since 1998

435-525: A commercial basis, and non-stop overseas destinations are limited to southeastern Australia and the South Pacific. Most large jet aircraft can safely use Wellington but the short runway severely limits their range to short-haul flights, and passenger numbers on trans-Tasman routes generally do not justify the use of wide-body aircraft. Air New Zealand has occasionally used wide-body aircraft to cater for high-demand events such as major sports fixtures, and

522-604: A joint venture between Infratil and the Wellington City Council , operates the airport. Wellington is the third busiest airport in New Zealand after Auckland and Christchurch , handling a total of 3,455,858 passengers in the year ending June 2022, and the third busiest in terms of aircraft movements. The airport, in addition to linking many New Zealand destinations with national and regional carriers, also has links to major cities in eastern Australia. It

609-568: A metre which could start early 2015. In 2013, United Arab Emirates -based airline Emirates said it would consider Wellington as a destination while the airport operator said 1000 people connect with long-haul flights to and from the capital each day. Also in 2013, China Southern Airlines expressed interest in starting a Guangzhou to Wellington service. In late 2014, the Airport and the Wellington City Council jointly opened

696-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

783-447: A northwest to southeast alignment to match prevailing winds in the area, was extended in 1933. The first timetabled commercial flights into Rongotai Airport took place on 30 December 1935, when two de Havilland Express biplane airliners of Cook Strait Airways with paying passengers flew in from Nelson and Blenheim . During this period, concerns about safety were raised. Early aviator Charles Kingsford Smith flew into Wellington and

870-609: A parallel grass runway as the only crosswind runway. A new multi-user terminal is intended for the southern area. This re-development was spurred by interest from Air New Zealand to operate Q300 aircraft. Planning hearings for airport redevelopment occurred in November 2007, with redevelopment completed in 2011 with the refurbishing of the runway and recommissioning of the control tower. The rising costs of Wellington Airport also contributed to Air New Zealand's initiative to schedule flights to Paraparaumu. On 24 October 2011, Air Nelson ,

957-401: A relocated fire station. In 2018, a nine-storey car park with more than 1,000 parking spaces was opened, and in 2019 a 134-room hotel opened at the airport, with direct access from the terminal. In 2018, a new air traffic control tower opened next to the airport retail centre. The building was designed by Studio Pacific and Paris Magdalinos Architects. The eight-storey building is constructed on

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1044-409: A single terminal at the east of the airport, with three piers: south, south-west and north-west. The terminal and piers have a total floor area of 32,300 square metres (348,000 sq ft). The main terminal building contains a common check-in area on the first floor and a common baggage claim area on the ground floor. Both connect to a retail and refreshment area on the first floor, looking out onto

1131-458: A subsidiary of Air New Zealand, commenced flights between Auckland and Paraparaumu. Flights to Christchurch also operated from November 2013 but ceased in February 2016. All flights are operated with Bombardier Q300 50 seat aircraft. On 9 March 2018, Air New Zealand announced it was suspending its Kāpiti Coast to Auckland service effective 3 April 2018. This ended Air New Zealand operations on

1218-423: Is 1,945 m (6,381 ft) for runway 16 and 1,921 m (6,302 ft) for runway 34. The runway is grooved, which improves performance of the runway during wet conditions. The airport has a night curfew from midnight to 6:00   am, although international arrivals are allowed as late as 1:00   am and there are numerous conditions and exceptions to the curfew, e.g. air ambulances are not subject to

1305-509: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

1392-617: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

1479-576: Is bordered by residential and commercial areas to the east and west, and by Evans Bay in Wellington Harbour to the north and Cook Strait to the south. Wellington has a reputation for sometimes rough and turbulent landings, even in larger aircraft, due to the channelling effect of Cook Strait creating strong and gusty winds, especially in pre-frontal north-westerly conditions. Wellington Aero Club formed in 1928 and asked Wellington City Council to set aside land for an airport. In October 1928,

1566-523: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

1653-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

1740-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

1827-575: Is on the Kāpiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island , between the Wellington dormitory suburbs of Paraparaumu Beach (to the west and north), Paraparaumu to the east, and Raumati Beach to the south. The Wharemauku Stream flows through part of the airport's land. Originally government -owned, the Kapiti Coast Airport was the greater Wellington region's main airport until Wellington International Airport re-opened in 1959. It

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1914-663: Is referred to as Gate 46 when used for an international flight). Air New Zealand operates three lounges for Koru members : the Regional Lounge on the second floor of the main terminal for members travelling regionally on turboprop aircraft, the Domestic Lounge located after security screening in the south-west pier for members travelling domestically on Air New Zealand jet aircraft, and the International Lounge located after outbound passport control in

2001-537: Is roughly 8 km (5.0 mi). Several taxi and shuttle companies serve the airport. Metlink bus route 2 (between the CBD and Miramar/Seatoun) has a stop within walking distance of the terminal and connects to Metlink train services at Wellington railway station. The Metlink Airport Express bus service, which began on 1 July 2022, links the Wellington CBD directly with Wellington Airport. Public transport to

2088-656: Is the home of some smaller general aviation businesses, including the Wellington Aero Club , which operates from the general aviation area on the western side of the runway. The airport comprises a small 110-hectare (270-acre) site on the Rongotai isthmus, a stretch of low-lying land between Wellington proper and the hilly Miramar Peninsula . It operates a single 2,081-metre (6,827 ft) runway with ILS in both directions. The airport handles turboprop, narrow-body and wide-body jet aircraft movements. The airport

2175-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

2262-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

2349-652: The Gold Coast . On 21 September 2016 Singapore Airlines began direct flights between Singapore and Wellington via Australia's capital city Canberra . It was Wellington's first direct flight to a destination outside Australia and the Pacific Islands. From April 2018, the Singapore Airlines flight began transiting via Melbourne rather than Canberra. The flights were terminated in 2020. Execujet (in conjunction with Capital Jet services) operates

2436-581: The Hobbit trilogy. On 19 February 2008, Wellington Airport announced the proposed design for a new, expanded international terminal. The design, by Studio Pacific Architecture and Warren and Mahoney , was a deliberate departure from traditional airport terminal design. Featuring round structures covered in weathered copper, the design aroused a great deal of controversy and was nicknamed "The Rock". "The Rock" opened in October 2010. Wellington Airport operates

2523-537: The 747SP has a much shorter fuselage than other 747 variants. Air New Zealand operated Douglas DC-8s from Wellington on trans-Tasman routes, but when they were retired in 1981 none of its other aircraft were capable of operating international flights from Wellington – Air New Zealand's McDonnell Douglas DC-10s required more runway length than Wellington had available, and twinjets such as the Boeing 737-200 were not yet ETOPS -certified. The 747SP addressed this gap in

2610-478: The Council agreed to the proposal and allocated reserve land at Lyall Bay for the purpose. Up to 150 labourers levelled the sand dunes and laid down a surface of broken rock and clay to stop the sand blowing away. This was then sown with grass. The official opening of the airport took place on 16 November 1929 with flying displays by 15 aeroplanes doing "crazy flying", "bombing" and races. The runway, which ran in

2697-569: The Kāpiti Coast after seven years. On 29 March 2018, Air Chathams expressed an interest in starting up services to Auckland from Paraparaumu with one of its Saab 340 , but the aircraft has potential performance restrictions that could cause disruptions with passenger off-loading. One solution has been proposed to operate a traffic light system north of the airport on Kapiti Road to momentarily halt traffic, but only when required for maximum performance take-off. Air Chathams estimated that, on average,

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2784-533: The Miramar Golf Course in 1994 for car park space. As recently as 1992, several alternate sites for Wellington Airport were considered – Te Horo , Paraparaumu , Mana Island , Ohariu Valley , Horokiwi , Wairarapa and Pencarrow – but a decision was made to upgrade the existing site at Rongotai. A major new domestic terminal was completed in 1999 and integrated with the international terminal, which had been built in 1977. A 90 m safety zone at

2871-729: The North Island section of State Highway 1 , which connects the airport to Wellington City via the Mount Victoria Tunnel . SH 1 then continues to the Wellington Urban Motorway , which takes traffic out of the city and further afield to Porirua and the Kāpiti Coast , and also onwards to the Hutt Valley and the Wairarapa via State Highway 2 . The distance from the airport to the city centre

2958-571: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . Paraparaumu Airport Kapiti Coast Airport ( IATA : PPQ , ICAO : NZPP ), also spelt Kāpiti Coast Airport and previously called Paraparaumu Airport ,

3045-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

3132-476: The Web site Connect Wellington to promote the case for a runway extension. In January 2016, Singapore Airlines announced that it would begin services to Wellington via Canberra. The route, dubbed "The Capital Express", flew to Wellington via Canberra four times a week, using a Boeing 777-200 aircraft. The 777-200 was able to use Wellington Airport because the amount of fuel needed to fly between Wellington and Canberra

3219-555: The aerodrome. At that time, the secondary runway (11/29) was 1239 m x 30 m. Paraparaumu was judged unsuitable for international operations in the 1950s due to Kapiti Island to the near west and the Tararua Ranges barely a mile east infringing the take-off and landing flightpaths. Housing areas were very close to the south and west of the airport, and since the mid-1980s to the north as well, directly across Kapiti Road. New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority has recently approved

3306-716: The airport after identifying approach obstruction issues. In the intervening years, aircraft performance and improvements in aircraft navigation systems render earlier concerns less critical. From 1952 to 1957, Wellington unusually had two domestic airports: NAC running Herons from Rongotai (which CAA had agreed to reopen on strict conditions), mainly to Blenheim and Nelson, and to Rotorua via Napier, with everything else from Paraparaumu. When NAC introduced Viscounts in early 1958 they could operate to Christchurch and Auckland only, Paraparaumu's runway being about 300 m (980 ft) too short. The reconstructed and much improved Rongotai Airport opened in 1959, although its terminal remained

3393-572: The airport has been two-thirds privately owned by Infratil , with the remaining third owned by Wellington City Council . In late May 2024, Wellington City Council voted in favour of selling its 34% minority stake (worth NZ$ 278 million) in Wellington Airport, with the proceeds going towards a major disaster investment fund. Wellington's original domestic terminal was built as a temporary measure inside an existing corrugated iron hangar, originally used to assemble de Havilland aircraft. It

3480-554: The airport has seen a number of wide-body movements over the years for heads of state and visiting foreign dignitaries, diversions or special promotional events. Singapore Airlines formerly operated a Wellington- Melbourne - Singapore flight four times per week, using an Airbus A350-900 . A full-length runway extension to accommodate long-haul international flights has been previously investigated, but would require expensive land reclamation into Lyall Bay , and massive breakwater protection from Cook Strait . Doubts have existed over

3567-527: The airport have put forward their case to various international airlines for long-haul operations to and from Wellington, pointing out that Christchurch's economy is mainly industrial and agricultural, while arguing that Wellington's economy is based mainly on what they see as the higher-value public service, financial, ICT , and creative sectors. In particular, a survey commissioned by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce found that respondents regarded

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3654-525: The airport installed a large statue of Gollum on the outside of the terminal in order to promote the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King . This Gollum was later removed, and a new sculpture of Gollum catching a fish was installed inside the terminal. In 2013 two one-tonne eagles with wingspans of 15 metres were installed inside the terminal to promote the second film in

3741-598: The airport is limited to buses as the airport is quite distant from the Wellington railway station, making it difficult to link Wellington Airport to the CBD via a rail link. Feasibility studies, such as the Greater Wellington Regional Council 's Ngauranga to Wellington Airport Corridor Plan, have been carried out to address this gap in the network, with light rail being touted as a solution by some public transport advocates. In spite of

3828-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

3915-498: The airport to be retained there. After several options for development were considered, Wellington City Council agreed to the Rongotai Terrace scheme in February 1951. This scheme saved Rongotai College and provided for a north-south runway. A major part of the scheme involved the complete removal of Rongotai Hill. Construction of the airport began in 1953, with the six-year project costing £5 million. Spoil from Rongotai Hill

4002-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

4089-507: The airport's limited international capacity as the biggest obstacle to the Wellington region's economic potential, by a long margin over other factors. It has also been pointed out that while Air New Zealand has been scaling back certain routes, it is adding others, most notably Auckland - Shanghai from 6 November 2006. According to WIAL in 2009, the forthcoming Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 were originally predicted to have improved runway performance over existing long-haul aircraft, opening up

4176-470: The airport, and the de Havilland Aircraft Company had an aircraft maintenance facility. With the closure of Rongotai Airport, the government had invited a British commission to report on New Zealand airports. The Tymms Report produced in 1948 recommended that the isthmus at Rongotai was still the best site for an airport in Wellington, and Wellington City Council and the Chamber of Commerce also lobbied for

4263-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

4350-654: The codeshare would stifle competition and passenger growth on Wellington's international flights, pointing to what it saw as a market duopoly dominated by Air New Zealand and Qantas. The codeshare was abandoned by the two airlines after it was rejected in a draft ruling by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission in November 2006. Fiji Airways began serving Wellington from Nadi on 25 June 2015. Australian airline Jetstar launched its first international service in December 2014 from Wellington to

4437-415: The curfew. In 2011, Qantas subsidiary Jetconnect was fined $ 12,000 after a delayed flight from Sydney landed at 1:47   am. Air Movements Rongotai sits on the opposite side of the Wellington airport runway from the main passenger terminals, its main use being the facilitation of Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) flights and flights of overseas military forces. The current building was refurbished in

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4524-420: The eastern end of Lyall Bay was lowered to improve the approach to the runway. In 1937 a government committee investigated possibilities for improving the airport, but its suggestion that a runway be constructed from north to south across the isthmus from Evans Bay to Lyall Bay, which would have entailed removal of Rongotai College and demolition or removal of up to 150 houses, was deemed unpalatable. The runway

4611-934: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

4698-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

4785-478: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

4872-597: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

4959-481: The hour-long commute for the lifestyle offered. In early 2007, the airport was sold by its first private owners to property developer Sir Noel Robinson for NZ$ 40 million. Since then some of the airport's property has been sold to allow for residential development and part of the secondary runway 11/29 has been closed. In December 2019, the airport was sold to NZ based developer Templeton Group which represents NZPropCo. Re-development proposals involve closing 11/29, with

5046-487: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

5133-420: The international terminal when it commenced competing domestic air services in 1987. In 1999 a new domestic terminal opened, linked to the international terminal. Designed by architect Jon Craig from Craig Craig Moller, the three-storey terminal has an open-plan retail, refreshment and seating area with a long glass wall overlooking the runway. Five new airbridges were also included in the development. In 2003,

5220-528: The late 1980s when it housed not only the RNZAF Air movements unit but also 2 MCU (2nd Movements Control Unit) of the New Zealand Army. The role of 2 MCU was the logistic control and movement of defence personal and freight throughout New Zealand and abroad, utilising both civilian and military modes of transport. The length of the runway has limited the size of aircraft that can use the airport on

5307-495: The lights would be required about 10 times a week. On 2 July 2018, Air Chathams announced they would begin services to the Kāpiti Coast starting from 20 August 2018, offering 36 flights per week using the Saab 340. The closest railway station to Kapiti Coast Airport is Paraparaumu Railway Station . Several lines operate through this station, connecting the area with the greater Wellington and Palmerston North area. The airport

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5394-466: The market, with Air New Zealand (after turning down an offer to purchase the type) code-sharing with Qantas. Special markings on the runway assisted Qantas pilots, to indicate where to touch down and to abort and go round to attempt a landing again. The 747SP service to Wellington continued until 1985, when Qantas and later Air New Zealand took delivery of the more capable and economical Boeing 767 -200ER type. During this time Pan Am took an interest in

5481-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

5568-415: The north-west pier for members travelling internationally. Qantas also operates a lounge after outbound passport control in the north-west pier; the lounge is available to Qantas Club members departing on international flights. Wellington Airport has one runway: 16/34. The runway is 1,815 m (5,955 ft) long threshold to threshold; with displaced thresholds at each end, the take-off run available

5655-444: The old Tiger Moth factory until the late 1990s. Paraparaumu ceased being Wellington's main airport and became then a general aviation airfield. During their royal visit of New Zealand in 1953/54, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip flew into the Kapiti Coast Airport as Wellington Airport was nonoperational. The Kapiti Aero Club is based at the airport, along with other private fliers and charter businesses. Due to

5742-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

5829-476: The operation of 747SPs into the capital and proposed a possible long-range service to the US via Hawaii. However, the New Zealand Government refused Pan Am's request for the route, citing Auckland Airport as the main gateway for overseas flights and the ability to generate passenger numbers amongst other things. Wellington Airport is only accessed by road. The airport lies at the southern end of

5916-528: The possibility of direct air links to Asia and the Americas if commercially viable. However, when the B787 was introduced into service, it was found that the "actual performance was not as favourable as was originally envisaged", prompting a decision to extend the north end of the runway. In 2011, the Wellington City Council, Mayor Celia Wade-Brown and local business leaders reiterated their support for lengthening

6003-543: The relative infrequency of commercial flights, it is a popular base for private and leisure flights. As recently as 1992, alternative sites for a new airport for Wellington were investigated, including Paraparaumu, but a decision was made to upgrade Wellington Airport's existing site. Interest in providing commercial flights at Paraparaumu reignited because the Kāpiti Coast is one of New Zealand's fastest growing regional centres. Many of Wellington's more affluent professionals and business people live at Paraparaumu and tolerate

6090-441: The runway, as part of the Airport's 2030 Long Term Plan, but questions were raised about a possible conflict of interest regarding the then incumbent Mayor's role on Infratil's board of directors. The same year, Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy called for further action on a runway extension, with a spokesman for the airport confirming a proposal to lengthen the southern end of the runway by 300 m at an estimated cost of $ 1 million

6177-530: The runway. The gates in the south pier (Gates 3 to 12) and the gates in the main terminal building (Gates 18 to 20) serve regional aircraft. The gates in the south-west pier (Gates 13 to 17) are predominantly used by Air New Zealand domestic jets, and with the exception of Gate 14, all are jetbridge gates. The gates in the north-west pier (Gates 21 to 29) are used by Jetstar domestic jets and all international flights: when transferred to international use, these gates are referred to as Gates 41 to 49 (e.g. Gate 26

6264-506: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

6351-857: The short runway and frequent winds, there have been very few safety incidents at the airport, with the following exceptions: IATA airport code The assignment of these codes is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

6438-423: The south end of the runway was constructed in order to comply with ICAO safety regulations, while a similar zone has been put in place at the runway's north end. In April 2006, Air New Zealand and Qantas announced that they proposed to enter into a codeshare agreement, arguing that it would be necessary in order to reduce empty seats and financial losses on trans-Tasman routes. The airport counter-argued that

6525-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

6612-515: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

6699-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

6786-472: The viability of such an undertaking, particularly as Air New Zealand has repeatedly indicated that it has no interest in pursuing international service beyond Australia and the Pacific Islands, and few international airlines have shown serious interest in providing services beyond those points. Air New Zealand has questioned potential demand for such flights, citing the axing of its Christchurch - Los Angeles route in early 2006. Regional business organisations and

6873-534: Was privatised in 1995. Constructed by the Royal New Zealand Air Force in July 1939 using equipment from Whenuapai , Paraparaumu was made available as an "Emergency Airport" by the government. The then-grass Rongotai Airport in Wellington was closed for safety reasons from 27 September 1947 until 1959, as the surface often became unusable during winter months. National Airways Corporation

6960-520: Was extended and other improvements made, but the 1937 committee had warned that the airport was not safe, and finally on 27 September 1947 the airport closed and almost all commercial flights were moved to Paraparaumu Airport , 35 miles (56 km) north of Wellington. Paraparaumu Airport soon became the country's busiest airport, but it was deemed unsuitable for large aircraft due to adverse terrain. Between 1950 and 1954, TEAL (the forerunner of Air New Zealand ) also operated flying boats to Australia from

7047-430: Was extended to 1,936 metres (6,352 ft) in the early 1970s, to handle Douglas DC-8s . In 1991, the airport released plans to widen the taxiway to CAA Code D & E specifications and acquire extra space, which were abandoned after protests from local residents. The plan involved the removal of the nearby Miramar Golf Course and a large number of residential and commercial properties. The Airport purchased land from

7134-517: Was forced to move to Paraparaumu Airport, 35 miles from Wellington, causing a one-third drop in Cook Strait passengers for NAC in a single year, due to the isolation. Nonetheless, Paraparaumu was the country's busiest airport in 1949, with up to 20 DC-3s and Lodestars lined up on its apron. The original runway dimensions were (16/34) 1350 m x 45 m with an 85 m starter extension available on runway 16, nearly touching Kapiti Road, which runs past

7221-401: Was known for being overcrowded, leaky and draughty. An international terminal was opened in 1977. An upgrade of the domestic terminal, budgeted at NZ$ 10 million, was announced in 1981, but by 1983 the plans were shelved after cost projections more than doubled. The terminal was extensively refurbished in 1987 by Air New Zealand , and Ansett New Zealand built a new terminal as an extension to

7308-497: Was redirected via Melbourne instead of Canberra. In 2019, Singapore Airlines announced that they would replace the 777-200 aircraft with the A350-900, starting on 1 November 2019. On 8 May 2024, the Airport announced a pause on plans for a runway extension, in order to get consent to rebuild the southern seawall. Because of the runway limitations, Qantas introduced Boeing 747SPs on flights between Wellington and Australia in 1981;

7395-484: Was relatively small; it could not take off from Wellington Airport if it carried the fuel required to fly non-stop to Singapore. The Deputy Mayor of Wellington argued that Singapore Airlines' commitment to the capital helped the case for an airport runway extension, and showed that airlines are looking to fly to Wellington and that the extension would cater for that in the future. In 2018, the Capital Express route

7482-510: Was said to be "perturbed" about conditions at Rongotai, where wind swirled around and the hills were very close. Along with others, he believed that Gear Island at the mouth of the Hutt River in Petone would be a better site for a commercial airport. A scale model of the landscape around the airport was made and tested in a wind tunnel, and, starting in 1936, the height of Moa Point Hill at

7569-414: Was used to reclaim land in Evans Bay and Lyall Bay. About 180 houses at Rongotai Terrace and Wexford Road on the hill were demolished or relocated to the newly reclaimed land at Evans Bay. A pedestrian tunnel from Coutts Street to Miramar was built under the new runway. The current airport was officially reopened on 25 October 1959. The original length of the runway was 1,630 metres (5,350 ft), and it

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