Chatham Islands / Tuuta Airport

Chatham Islands
Tuuta Airport

The airport terminal
IATA: CHTICAO: NZCI
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Chatham Islands Enterprise Trust, Inc [1]
Operator Chatham Islands Airport Limited
Location Waitangi, Chatham Islands
Elevation AMSL 43 ft / 13 m
Coordinates 43°48′36″S 176°27′26″W / 43.81000°S 176.45722°W / -43.81000; -176.45722Coordinates: 43°48′36″S 176°27′26″W / 43.81000°S 176.45722°W / -43.81000; -176.45722
Map
CHT

Location on Chatham Island

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
05/23 1,360 4,462 Bitumen
Sources: New Zealand AIP[2]

Chatham Islands / Tuuta Airport (IATA: CHT, ICAO: NZCI) is a small airport 10.5 nautical miles (19.4 km; 12.1 mi) northeast of Waitangi Township on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

The airport was completed in 1982 to replace an earlier built compacted grass airstrip at Te Hapupu that could only handle slow flying Safe Air Bristol Freighter aircraft. The Armstrong Whitworth Argosy immediately started operating to the islands using the new airport until 1990 when Mount Cook Airlines and later Air Chathams took over air services to and from mainland New Zealand.

A small aviation museum is also based there, signifying the importance that aviation has played in developing the economic wealth of the island group.

Air Chathams operate services to Auckland, to Christchurch, and to Wellington operating Convair 580 aircraft, on the following days; Monday: Chathams - Wellington, Tuesday: Chathams - Christchurch, Wednesday: Chathams - Wellington, Thursday: Chathams - Auckland, Friday: Chathams - Wellington, and seasonally Saturday: Chathams - Auckland.

The airport is the base of Air Chathams and usually houses two aircraft overnight.

Improvements proposed

In 2012 The New Zealand Government announced plans to develop the airport as part of an overall Economic Plan for the Chatham Islands. Proposals include and extension out to 1600m and resurfacing of the runway. A new passenger and administration terminal is also planned along with a larger apron area and a new large aircraft hangar.[3]

Operational information:

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
Air Chathams Auckland, Christchurch, Pitt Island, Wellington

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.