Auckland International Airport

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|- !colspan="4" style="text-align: center; background-color: #4682B4; color: white;" |Runways |- !bgcolor="lightgrey" rowspan="2"|Direction !bgcolor="lightgrey" colspan="2"|Length !bgcolor="lightgrey" rowspan="2"|Surface |- !bgcolor="lightgrey"|ft !bgcolor="lightgrey"|m |- !align="left" valign="top"|05R/23L |valign="top" align="right"|11,926 |valign="top" align="right"|3,635 |valign="top"|Concrete |- !align="left" valign="top"|05L/23R |valign="top" align="right"|10,197 |valign="top" align="right"|3,108 |valign="top"|Asphalt

Auckland International Airport is the largest and busiest international airport in New Zealand. The airport is located in Mangere, a western suburb of Manukau City, 21 km from Auckland city centre. It is the central hub for Air New Zealand.

Auckland airport is one of New Zealand’s most important infrastructural assets – it provides thousands of jobs for the region, is the country’s second-largest cargo port by value, contributes around $14 billion to the economy, and brings over four million visitors to New Zealand each year. Around 70% of international travellers arrive or depart here.

In terms of total passenger numbers, it is the fourth largest in Australasia, after Kingsford Smith International Airport (Sydney), Melbourne Airport and Brisbane International Airport. However, as both the CEO of Auckland Airport and the Prime Minister of New Zealand have recently noted[link], it is second largest airport in Australasia in terms of high-yield international passengers, being around 50% larger than Melbourne Airport.

This airport collects an Airport Improvement Fee.

History

In 1960, work started to transform the site into Auckland's main airport. Much of the runway is on land reclaimed from the Manukau Harbour. The first flight to leave was an Air New Zealand DC-8 in November 1965, bound for Sydney. The airport was officially opened the following year, with a 'grand air pageant' on Auckland Anniversary weekend - 29 to 31 January, 1966.

A new international terminal, named after Jean Batten, was built in 1977. The most recent substantial upgrade was in 2005, separating arriving and departing passengers.

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International Terminal, Auckland International Airport.

Currently, the airport is undergoing a series of major construction projects, which will see large changes, including a second runway. See [link]or [link].

Auckland airport now

The airport processes over 11 million passengers each year, with around 6 million international passengers. In the second week of January 2005 the airport processed 152,382 international passengers - the highest weekly number in its history. By 2050 the airport expects to be handling in excess of 30 million international passengers a year. It remains to be seen whether the current management team have enough airport nous to develop a passenger-friendly terminal for such expansion.

International Terminal

All gates can handle large aircraft (777, 343, 333, 747) except for gates 1 and 4 which can only handle 767 or smaller. Previously gate 1 could handle widebodies and gate 3 could not, until the airport began its expansion programme in early 2005.

There are no specific gates to which flights are always assigned. As a general rule, smaller aircraft (320 etc) will be assigned gates 1, 4 or 9 during the peak afternoon times, when the number of large widebodies on the ground are high.

Unlike other major airports, check-in stretches along the east side of the ground floor, with the public arrivals area spilling out into the west. After checking-in, passengers go up escalators to the first floor, where there is a food court and some shops as well as the entrance to passport control.

Departures

Premium class passengers on Air New Zealand, Lan Chile, Qantas, Emirates and Cathay Pacific are entitled to use special immigration clearance formalities. For the oneworld airlines (LA, QF, CX) this takes place at a special immigration desk located inside the Qantas premium check-in facility. For Emirates, this takes place at the immigration desk located behind check-in counter 54. Passengers who pre-clear immigration at these points are then entitled to use a special pre-cleared lane at the first floor entrance to passport control, bypassing the main queues. This also has the advantage of bypassing the Auckland Airport hand carry police, who have recently taken to weighing hand carry luggage for the airlines.

Air New Zealand premium passengers clear immigration at a special counter inside their check-in facility. They then have a special escalator which takes them straight past the normal queues and into the grey space between passport control and security. They then clear security as normal. Prior to the heightened security requirements imposed by the September 11 terrorist attacks, Air New Zealand passengers were cleared through immigration by the check-in agent, and merely ran their boarding passes through a reader to gain access to the special escalator. Now, they must be manually cleared by a New Zealand Customs officer.

Queues at outbound passport control range from 5 to 30 minutes. There are no special clearance facilities for New Zealand or Australian passport holders - it is one queue for all.

Passengers must pay a NZD25 departure tax each time they leave the airport (unless they have been in transit for less than 24 hours). This is payable at the Bank of New Zealand on the ground floor or first floor. In 2006 the airport finally got round to installing automatic payment machines. However, this was the extent of their intelligence, for the machines dispense thermal receipts with a barcode on them, rather than stickers which are issued by the counter staff and put on the back of the boarding pass. Therefore passengers who skip the queues at the counter and use the machines have to deal with three little bits of paper (departure card, boarding pass, departure tax receipt). Additionally complicating the already confusing and time-wasting procedure, passengers under 12 must get an exemption sticker from counter staff - this cannot be issued via the machines.

Check-in expansion

Arrivals

In 2002, Auckland Airport built a special cluster of 5 counters opposite the duty free shops, with access to the baggage claim area by an escalator. This facility was originally marketed as expedited clearance for Australian and New Zealand passport holders who visited the duty free shops, and required presentation of a duty free receipt before it could be used. The incentive was to encourage people to spend and buy without being afraid of being stuck at the back of a queue for passport control. Because the scheme was only available to New Zealand and Australian passport holders, who enjoyed shorter queues at a special lane downstairs anyway, it proved to be fairly unattractive. Further, after an experience by one passenger when airport staff stopped passengers off a full Cathay Pacific B747-400 from accessing the main immigraton hall, instead holding them on the upper mezzanine, the duty free express counters received unfavourable press from national newspapers, including accusations from passengers that the counters was merely a scheme by the airport company to tout duty free sales to its arriving passengers and fleece them for cash.

From about early 2004, in peak times, the upper counters were used as express counters for all New Zealand and Australian passport holders, to make more room downstairs for foreign passport holders. At times, queues to clear arriving passport control ranged from 45 minutes to 2 hours because of the sheer number of people arriving off the afternoon flights from Asia. In late 2004/early 2005, the upstairs counters were permanently changed to clear New Zealand and Australian passport holders. However, a couple of counters downstairs continue to clear these passports, and in quiet times, the upper counters are not opened.

There are five flat-bed baggage belts which snake their way through the hall. Reclaim belt 5 was extended in late 2003 to deal with the large number of bags from 747-400 flights. However, because reclaim belt 5 is often used for flights handled by Menzies aviation, which previously did not handle many B747 flights (Menzies now has the Singapore Airlines contract, even though belt 5 is often used for A340 and B777 flights of Cathay Pacific and Emirates), this purpose turned out to be somewhat lacking.

Auckland Airport's latest project is to shift arrivals to the west of the existing facilties, so they can be used to clear passengers from the intended Pier B. As appears to be the recurring theme at this airport, this will mean a massive detour for passengers arriving at the current terminal (Pier A) which entails them walking all the way to the west then doubling their steps back out to the public area. Auckland Airport does not believe in travelators.

MAF Biosecurity Screening

In late 2005, the biosecurity area got a revamp with the initial arrival-card checkpoints moved out of the main screening area into the baggage claim hall. With passengers being checked at these stations before being told to join a lane for screening, the system seems to work somewhat better. Unlike airports outside Australia and New Zealand, passengers are only required to clear MAF and not Customs. However, Customs run their separate screening station to the east of the MAF screening area and MAF officers may direct passengers to Customs if they find something in the hand searches or X-rays they feel warrants Customs attention.

Separation of Arriving and Departing Passengers

In December 2005, Auckland Airport finished its $47 million project to separate arriving and departing passengers as required by CAA and international security regulations. Previously arriving and departing passengers were able to mingle in a common gate area. Now, departing passengers after clearing immigration and security ascend a short escalator to the new upper level of the terminal and then "drop down" into their glassed-in gate lounges. This cheap method appears to be a way to avoid building a whole new level (the new level only extends for half the length of the existing international pier). The obvious solution to the separation problem would have been to stream arrivals onto the new upper level (like Heathrow, Beijing and Vancouver to name a few) by building glass corridors along the existing level and keeping the open gate lounges. Unfortunately, Auckland Airport's primary motivation is shops, and the new upper level provides lots more retail space. There is therefore the farcical situation where passengers go up, then go down. Once they descend into their gate lounge they are essentially trapped by glass walls which separate them from arriving passengers.

Each drop-down point is fitted with stairs, a down escalator and a lift. There are two gates to every drop down point (gates 1/3, 2/4, 5/7, 6/8 and 9/10). Remote bus gates board from gates 4A/4B/4C/4D/5A which are accessible by separate down escalator after dropping down into the gate 2/4 glassed-in lounge. Because the airport company wants to make you walk past the shops, the walking distance to gates 1 and 2 (the closest to security) is now doubled, and passengers are made to retrace their steps on the upper level once they descend into their gate lounge. Because of the way the glassed-in lounges need to operate, passengers arriving at gates 3 and 4 also have to double back around the glassed-in departure lounge to access the main arrivals corridor. All in all, it is a very stupid design and passenger-unfriendly.

Previous toilets for departing passengers are now only accessible by arriving passengers. There are therefore a lot of toilets for arriving passengers. For departing passengers, the airport has installed two unisex cubicles for each glassed-in lounge (i.e. two cubicles for each of the five glassed-in lounges). They are fitted with a complicated automatic locking system rather than the traditional simple bolt. Passengers are instructed by an electronic voice to slide the door shut, then hit the black button by the door to lock it. The lock frequently fails to recognise the button-push and it is also extremely unhygienic because of the number of people who need to press the button. Further, the button is hidden by the sink and is not on the door, meaning it is difficult to find and lock the door if you do not know what to do or do not speak English. Amazingly, despite these cubicles being brand new, the airport has failed to install hygienic sensor taps and flushers, instead spending a ridiculous amount of money on a complicated locking system which adds absolutely no value at all.

Passengers departing on US and London bound flights have a secondary passport check prior to descending into their glassed-in lounge by a Customs officer stationed at the top of the drop-down point.

Auckland International Airport Limited - the company

The Government was AIAL’s majority shareholder, the rest being held by the local councils. In 1998, the Government sold down its shareholding, and AIAL became the fifth airport company in the world to be publicly listed.

AIAL appears on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX: [AIA]) and Australian Stock Exchange (ASX: [AIA]). International shareholders hold around 40%, domestic approximately 60% of the shares.

AIAL enjoys diverse revenue streams, and operates a ‘dual-till’ approach, whereby its finances are split into aeronautical and non-aeronautical balance sheets. Aeronautical income is derived from airfield charges, terminal services charge and the airport development charge (or departure fee). Non-aeronautical revenue comes from its significant property portfolio, car park, and retail income. Income from the non-aeronautical side of the business accounts for just over half of its revenue.

This diversity in revenue has been of benefit in the recent downturn in international aviation following the events of September 11 2001, and subsequently the Bali bombing, SARS and the Iraq war. AIAL has been able to rely on steady income from the non-aeronautical side of the business, which has softened the blow of international events. On top of this, New Zealand has retained favour among the world’s travellers as a safe destination.

AIAL has a [Standard & Poor’s] credit rating of A+/Stable/A-1.

Airlines

• Aerolíneas Argentinas (Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Sydney)
• Air New Zealand (Adelaide, Apia, Bay of Islands (Kerikeri), Blenheim, Brisbane, Cairns, Christchurch, Dunedin, Gisborne, Hamilton, Hong Kong, Honolulu, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Nadi, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Noumea, Osaka-Kansai, Papeete, Perth, Queenstown, Rarotonga, Rotorua, San Francisco, Shanghai-Pudong [starts November 6, 2006], Singapore, Sydney, Taupo, Tauranga, Tokyo-Narita, Tonga, Wanganui, Wellington, Whakatane, Whangarei)
• Aircalin (Noumea)
• Air Pacific (Nadi, Suva)
• Air Tahiti Nui (Papeete, Sydney)
• Air Vanuatu (Port Vila)
• Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong)
• Emirates (Bangkok, Brisbane, Dubai, Melbourne, Singapore, Sydney)
• EVA Air (Taipei-Chiang Kai Shek)
• Freedom Air (Gold Coast)
• Garuda Indonesia (Brisbane, Denpasar-Bali)
• Great Barrier Airlines (Great Barrier Island, Matarangi, Whitianga)
• Korean Air (Seoul-Incheon)
• LAN Airlines (Santiago, Sydney)
• Malaysia Airlines (Kuala Lumpur)
• Mountain Air (Great Barrier Island)
• Origin Pacific Airways (Napier, New Plymouth, Nelson, Palmerston North)
• Pacific Blue (Brisbane, Gold Coast, Tonga, Rarotonga)
• Polynesian Blue (Apia)
• Qantas (Adelaide, Brisbane, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Sydney)
• Royal Brunei Airlines (Brisbane, Brunei)
• Singapore Airlines (Singapore)
• Thai Airways International (Bangkok)

Fatal accidents

• On July 4, 1966, an Air New Zealand Douglas DC-8 on a training flight crashed on the runway shortly after taking off, killing two of the five crew (no passengers were onboard).

• On February 17, 1979, an Air New Zealand Fokker Friendship crashed into Manukau Harbour while on final approach. One of the crew and one company staff member were killed.

• On July 31, 1989, a Mainfreight Convair 340/580 crashed shortly after taking off at night. The three crewmembers were killed.

External links

• [Auckland International Airport]

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