Wellington Airport has announced a profit of $3 million for the past year, with passenger numbers up 19% – or more than 3.5 million passengers – despite the pandemic.
Just 48,667 of these were international passengers, due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The airport’s annual review document, for the year to March 31, 2022, says: “Domestically, the airport reached a high of 93% of pre-Covid travel in July 2021” and “most regional routes were busier than prior to Covid […] The number of travellers then plummeted in August due to nationwide lockdowns, dropping to 2% of pre-Covid levels.”
Wellington Airport chief executive Matt Clarke called it “a roller-coaster 12 months for the aviation sector”, and “it’s pleasing to end on a positive note with the re-opening of international borders and full flights connecting happy travellers” in a statement.
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“We welcomed back trans-Tasman flights in March and more international flights are being re-introduced over the next few months by Air New Zealand, Qantas, Jetstar and Fiji Airways. It’s great to see the terminal busy and buzzing again,” Clarke said.
The report counts 1089 tonnes of carbon-equivalent emissions produced – this doesn’t include emissions from the flights themselves, only those caused by the airport’s infrastructure, and planes taxiing and taking off.
Work began on the main taxiway for the first time since the airport opened in 1959, and from April 2021, a 24-month energy optimisation programme began in the main terminal.
The report says: “11 months into the project, we have achieved significant results with a 4.8% reduction in HVAC [heating, ventilation, and air conditioning] energy use (normalised to account for lower passenger numbers during Covid).”
By 2030, the airport has promised to reduce its emissions and terminal building energy use by 30%, waste sent to landfill by 30%, and potable water usage by 30%.
“We’re proud of our sustainability work programme,” Clarke said. “In the last year we’ve welcomed our first electric flight and are working hard to reduce our energy use and operational emissions by 30% by 2030.
“We’re also looking forward to helping the wider aviation sector transition to lower emissions through electric flights and new, sustainable aviation fuels.”
In a separate statement, the airport said it welcomed the country’s first ever Emissions Reduction Plan and the importance of reducing emissions across the entire aviation sector, as it “recognises the critical importance of aviation in connecting people and goods, and the need for new technologies to decarbonise,” Clarke said.
Decarbonising required its footprint to grow. “Even in the short term, accommodating fuel-efficient aircraft and increasing the efficiency of the existing fleet will require additional stands and parking spaces.”
The council voted against a suggestion from a group of councillors to make a public statement in opposition of the expansion last week.
On Monday, a group of climate and community activists began five days of mediation with airport representatives to seek a middle ground on the issue of the airport’s growth, after a clash over plans to expand to the east.
Last week, the airport announced it was canning its court case against the Cobham Dr pedestrian crossing, a week after the High Court’s refusal to grant an interim injunction.
A fully electric airport bus will be in service by July, after the capital has been without an airport bus since the country went into its first nationwide Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020.
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