Queenstown and Tauranga airports scoop honours

Queenstown and Tauranga airports scoop honours at New Zealand Airports Conference

Queenstown Airport has been named AECOM Major Airport of the Year at the New Zealand Airports Conference.

The award was presented at the Fulton Hogan Dinner held at the New Zealand Airports Conference at the Heritage Hotel Auckland last night.

Tauranga Airport was named AECOM Regional Airport of the Year and Kaye McNabb, Chief Executive of Nelson Airport, was named Fulton Hogan New Zealand Airport Personality of the Year.

Trevor Hipkins, Technical Director at AECOM presented the Airport of the Year award, said: “We are delighted to be sponsoring an award that supports excellence in innovation and we congratulate Queenstown on its exceptional achievements.”

The accolade for Queenstown recognises the airport’s major achievement in winning approval from New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority and Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority to approve the foundation safety case for after-dark flights into the airport.

Management promoted a coordinated, structured industry approach to understanding the challenges and feasibility of evening flights. A key part of the scheme’s success was the formation of a working group of technical and operational experts with specific experience of the airport and the Required Navigation Performance Authorisation Required (RNP AR) technology.

New Zealand Airports Association (NZ Airports) Chief Executive Kevin Ward said: “The judges were particularly impressed by the collaborative approach adopted by the working group, the emphasis on safety first and the potential benefits to the tourism industry and regional economy.”

The decisive factor in Tauranga Airport winning the regional title was the multiple benefits which have flowed from its project to enhance the airport’s facilities by reclaiming a former municipal dump site.

The scheme has included constructing 22,000m2 of general aviation taxiway and holding bays, hangar roads, and public car parking. This has all been achieved using recycled concrete as a base course as well as providing the base course for 5000m2 of building platform for hangars built in 2011.

Mr Ward said: “This one project has generated multiple benefits including reclaiming and sealing the old dump site, creating a central clean fill site and construction of airport facilities using recycled concrete.”

Kaye McNabb has been Chief Executive of Nelson Airport for 11 years. She was one of only a handful of female airport chief executives in New Zealand when she took on the role and the airport has thrived under her leadership. She is very active in the industry, was the driver behind the formation of the Top of the South Aviation Cluster, and has served two terms on the NZ Airports executive.

Jim Parsons, National Airports Manager for Fulton Hogan, said: “Kaye is a very deserving winner. She is extremely supportive of the industry, freely sharing her expertise. Her work for the airport has added to the economic development of the Nelson region.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media