Whenuapai Airport Civil Use September 2007 North West Auckland Airport Civil Use. A Primer Civil use of Whenuapai Airport has been a work in progress since Government’s 2002 announcement that the Air Force was likely to vacate the Base by 2007 and consolidate at Ohakea. This primer is a summary of key aspects of the process of bringing civil use to Whenuapai and what civil use would mean. It is intended to be accurate and to not mislead, but some of the issues are complex and not all the complexity is fully reflected here. If civil use of Whenuapai occurs, whether alongside the RNZAF or stand alone, it will create benefits and costs. The Company formed to make this happen, North West Auckland Airport Limited, has the goal of delivering the greatest possible benefit and doing the most possible to mitigate costs. North West Auckland Airport Limited is owned by NZX listed company Infratil and the three councils of Waitakere, North Shore and Rodney. The costs, benefits and some of the background addressed in this primer are: ¾ What is “civil use” ? ¾ Why are the 3 Council’s so supportive ? ¾ Who owns North West Auckland Airport Limited and how would it operate at Whenuapai ? ¾ Will airlines want to use Whenuapai ? ¾ Noise and pollution ? ¾ From here ? North West Page 2 Auckland Airport North West Page 3 Auckland Airport What is Civil Use ? A brief history of Auckland’s airports ¾ 1911 the first recorded powered flight in Auckland ¾ 1947 most civil aviation centralised at Whenuapai Airport ¾ 1955 decision made to make Mangere the base for Auckland’s main civil airport ¾ 1965 Mangere opens and Whenuapai closes for municipal operations ¾ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whenuapai has a good brief history Civil aviation covers the activities overseen by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) ¾ Essentially everything not military ¾ CAA rules where passengers are involved are more onerous than the Military ones ¾ CAA’s rules do not cover things like noise and pollution. Their focus is safety Whenuapai’s 2 kilometer runway would accommodate short-haul jet and propeller services ¾ The runway is the same length as Wellington’s (Mangere’s is 3.6 kilometres) ¾ Boeing 737 and Airbus 320. Not larger long-haul jets North West Auckland Airport ¾ The goal is about 2 million passenger movements a year (Mangere has 12.5m, Wellington 4.7m) ¾ This would mean about 21 jet services a day (21 landing and 21 taking off) ¾ About 1 jet movement an hour at either end of the runway (It is assumed no civil use will happen between 12AM and 6AM) North West Page 4 Auckland Airport Why The Councils Want Civil Use For each of Waitakere, North Shore and Rodney civil use of Whenuapai is a special opportunity ¾ No other single development has as much potential to provide economic and transport benefits to the region ¾ There is extensive anecdotal evidence of the commercial disadvantage to the region of businesses having to access airport services in South Auckland ¾ It will be a boon to residents who will be able to substantially reduce travel time to an airport ¾ It will be a boon to businesses that benefit from people visiting the region for business and recreation Allow RNZAF to economically retain an Auckland base ¾ Sharing the cost of upgrade and operation ¾ A back-up to Mangere ¾ Civil Defence will be able to retain a base in the region Significant enhancement to the region’s connectivity ¾ By air ¾ And on the ground via reduced road congestion Recent Developments are all compatible with benefiting from civil aviation at Whenuapai ¾ Transit to extend the Motorway Hobsonville-Westgate by 2011 ¾ Westgate to be developed as a city centre ¾ Waitakere City purchase of 15 hectares of Hobsonville for yacht construction. The region will continue to develop this centre of excellence ¾ Hobsonville to gain 3,000 homes North West Page 5 Auckland Airport Why The Councils Want Civil Use Civil use of Whenuapai is Waitakere City’s most important development issue ¾ “Waitakere is a city of green hills, bush, beaches, and strong communities, Council’s goal is to build on those things by minimising urban sprawl and improving the local jobs environment. We want our citizens to be able to walk or bus to work and to have nearby access to civil and social amenities. We want to get our people out of the traffic. Nothing will contribute as much to this long term vision as developing a successful civil airport at Whenuapai.“ ¾ Waitakere has commissioned economic appraisal reports from NZIER and BERL about the economic impact of closure of the RNZAF operations at Whenuapai and alternative developments on the site. These reports, and wide raging reviews of options, has unequivocally shown that RNZAF departure or wind-down would leave a big hole in the West Auckland economy and that only civil use of the Airport could hope to fill the gap. Military operations contribute over 2% of Waitakere’s economic activity and involve over 1,500 jobs and 800 families. The example of the Mangere Airport indicates clearly just how big a “pull” for commercial activity an airport can be. Waitakere City is rich in people and poor in jobs over 60% of the City’s work force (over 60,000 people) leave the city each day to travel to their jobs ¾ It has been estimated that a successful civil aviation operation at Whenuapai would create over 2,000 local jobs within 5 years. This will not fundamentally change the problem with people in Auckland’s north and west having a daily drive south for work, but it will help. ¾ At present there are over 30,000 vehicle trips a day between Auckland’s north and west and the Mangere Airport. Within 10 years it is forecast (by Auckland Airport) that there will be over 60,000 a day, over half of which will be travelling for other than aviation related business. ¾ Waitakere has calculated that were there a successful civil aviation operation at Whenuapai now it would be a major benefit for Auckland’s road congestion. Valuing time at $14 an hour the reduction in lost time due to road congestion would be valued at over $340 million. North West Page 6 Auckland Airport Alternative Uses There would be fundamental problems with developing alternative, high density, commercial uses for the Whenuapai site were the airport to be closed ¾ Waitakere has other growth nodes and would not want Whenuapai to compete with these, Consequently it will not be rezoned for other commercial uses. ¾ In any case, because it is outside the Metropolitan Urban Limit the prospect of it being rezoned are problematic. The airport is an important reinforcement of the MUL, acting as a barrier to residential development. Site utilities and restitution ¾ An issue with Hobsonville, which has taken about 10 years to resolve, is who is to pay for utilities. If reticulation of water, sewage, etc. was required at Whenuapai it is estimated it would cost someone over $20 million. ¾ Were the airport closed, someone would have to pay for the sites restitution. Amongst other things this would involve removal of the runway and significant earthworks which would further silt the upper harbour. North West Page 7 Auckland Airport Population & Employment 2021 (another 440,0000 people in Auckland) Population 2021 Employment 2021 Forecasts of Auckland’s population and employment show that the problem of a population that is growing in the north and west while jobs are being created in the center and south is expected to persist. Unless ways can be found to stop traffic flowing from north to south each morning and back each evening Auckland’s traffic will only get worse, no matter how much money is invested in “solutions”. More people already live closer to Whenuapai than Mangere. North West Page 8 Auckland Airport Auckland Airport (Mangere) Auckland Airport is developing the commercial infrastructure and activity of a small city. This development is accelerating. It is good for Auckland and New Zealand but it comes at a cost 2,000 hectare site ¾ Circa 500 hectares aeronautical (Wellington is 95 hectares) >12 million passengers a year (projected 5%pa. long term growth) ¾ Growth of 7% per annum for the last 40 years ¾ Projected passenger numbers of >25 million within 20 years ¾ Wellington 4.7 million passengers $14 billion pa. contribution to New Zealand’s economy >15,000 people work at AIA ¾ Wellington 2,000 ¾ 33,000 people to work at AIA by 2015 81,000 vehicles travel to and from AIA each day now ¾ A further 74,000 vehicles a day by 2015 ¾ 2015 68,000 vehicles travelling to/from AIA on airport business ¾ 2015 87,000 vehicles travelling to/from AIA on other business ¾ Increasing trend towards non-aeronautical activities ¾ 2015 62,000 vehicles a day from Auckland’s north and west travelling to/from AIA North West Page 9 Auckland Airport Auckland Airport Wants $2,880 million more spent on Land Transport 2006 - 2016 There is already a huge cost associated with moving people and goods to and from Auckland Airport. Growing land traffic to that Airport will increase the cost. The Airport’s own 2006 submission to the Regional Land Transport Strategy called for a further $2,880 million (2005 dollars) to be spent over the next decade. That is in addition to already budgeted spending Draft Auckland Regional Land Transport Strategy 2006 - 2016 ¾ Existing rate of spend (over the previous ten years) $5,180 million ¾ ARC “preferred option” spend $10,658 million (+$5,470 million increase) ¾ Sourced: ¾ TLA $1,793 million ¾ ARC $1,668 million ¾ Tolls $185 million ¾ Government $7,012 million ¾ Allocated ¾ Roads $6,540 million ¾ Demand management $420 million ¾ Public transport $3,750 million Auckland Airport Submission called for spend of $13,590 million ¾ Allocated ¾ Roads $8,890 million (+$2,350m more than ARC’s preferred position) ¾ Demand management $970 million (+$550m) ¾ Public transport $3,730 million (-$20m) Civil use of Whenuapai is not going to mean this problem doesn’t develop, nor that money will not need to be be spent on improved links to Auckland Airport, but it will make a positive difference North West Page 10 Auckland Airport Infrastructure Requires Long-Term Vision Wellington Airport Advertisement 1968 Investing in infrastructure such as airports requires vision.