Plans by Queenstown Airport, part-owned by Auckland International Airport, to pre-empt Christchurch International Airport’s development of a second international airport for central Otago stalled when the High Court ruled Lakes District’s one hundred year lease giving Queenstown Airport control of Wanaka airport was unlawful; Queenstown Lakes District Council failed to properly carry out full public consultation.
Best known nationally for its regular ‘Warbirds over Wanaka’ air show, Wanaka Airport sits close to Luggate in central Otago. The sealed airstrip no longer carries scheduled domestic flights. It requires lengthening and extensive strengthening before being able to carry heavy jets bringing tourist traffic from Australia and elsewhere in New Zealand. Competitive pressure for control of Wanaka Airport mounted following rumours of Christchurch International’s plans to develop an international airfield nearby at Tarras.
Currently, Queenstown airport carries all central Otago domestic and international air traffic. It is New Zealand’s fourth busiest airport by passenger numbers. Queenstown’s position, nestled in an alpine valley, restricts aircraft movements.
In March 2018, Lakes District granted Queenstown Airport a one hundred year perpetually-renewable lease over Wanaka Airport, and with it control of all airport facilities. This was challenged by the Wanaka Stakeholders Group; a grouping of some 3500 individuals and businesses living around Wanaka and upper Clutha Valley.
Lakes District Council holds a majority shareholding in Queenstown Airport. In granting the one hundred year Wanaka lease to Queenstown Airport, Lakes District was giving to itself, in the guise of Council-controlled Queenstown Airport, control of future development of a second international airport in the region. Through 2016 and 2017, prior to the lease agreement, Queenstown Airport had bought up land surrounding Wanaka Airport suitable for runway extension at a total cost of $12.3 million.
In the High Court, Justice van Bohemen was moved to say it strained credulity to accept that the one hundred year lease would have been negotiated without a shared understanding between Lakes District and Queenstown Airport about Wanaka Airport’s future development. Such public consultation as there was, did not indicate Lakes District was contemplating a one hundred year time frame in determining plans for Wanaka Airport. It was a breach of the Local Government Act to grant a long-term lease over a strategic asset like Wanaka Airport without full public consultation.
Queenstown Airports’s one hundred year lease over Wanaka was declared unlawful. Some ninety sub-leases negotiated between Queenstown Airport and Wanaka Airport tenants were consequently invalidated. Lakes District Council resumes as their landlord.
Wanaka Stakeholders Group Inc v. Queenstown Lakes District – High Court (21.04.21)
21.072