Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) today (Thursday 8 December) announced it has acquired 106 hectares of land adjacent to Wānaka Airport.
The land is comprised of two lots. The first is located immediately to the north east of the airport and covers an area of 65 hectares. The second lot, with an area of 41 hectares, is located to the north west of the airport with frontage to the Wānaka /Luggate Highway.
Both lots had been identified by QAC, in its capacity as operational manager of Wānaka Airport, as being of strategic importance to the future growth and development of Wānaka Airport.
QAC Chairman John Gilks said “securing this land is critical to any plans for the future of Wānaka Airport and also would complement the services provided at Queenstown Airport under a dual airport policy. Implementation of this strategy would ultimately benefit the wider Lakes District communities which QAC serves.”
“Under a governance review currently being undertaken by Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC), as the owner of the existing land and buildings at Wānaka Airport, QLDC is considering granting a long term lease of the existing airport to QAC. Given that this review has not yet been completed, QAC would have preferred these land acquisitions to have been deferred until the outcome of the review was known”, Mr Gilks stated.
“However, the vendor placed the land on the open market and QAC became aware that there was other interest in it. As a result, the QAC Board decided to make the acquisition now in order to avoid a situation where private developers might acquire it for purposes other than future airport development.”
Boundaries on image are indicative only
