TOP STORY: $30,000 runway report rubbished | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

KATHY WEBB

The Hastings and Napier councils should reject a consultant's report and put up the money for a 600-metre runway extension at the Hawke's Bay Airport, says a public-relations expert who has trained in economics.

Simon Nixon, of Havelock North, wants to present his case to the two councils.

He said the report by PricewaterhouseCooper recommending against any extension to the runway was fundamentally flawed. Research underpinning the report was inadequate.

He said it was based on information from people who had no interest in seeing the airport expand, and came to entirely the wrong conclusion. It had the appearance of justifying a mindset held from the outset.

Mr Nixon, who is a media, public relations and advertising consultant, has a background in professional economics. Working for the former National Airways Corporation, he developed flight routes, long-range strategic plans, and sales budgets.

He said Pricewaterhouse should refund the $30,000 paid for its report.

"It is a Clayton's investigation. The report failed to cover most of the terms of reference and the few answers given were mostly wrong".

It demonstrated an overwhelming bias against runway extension.

"The only credible aspect is the negative response of the airlines to jet services," Mr Nixon said.

"The Air New Zealand position is clear. They do not want any runway extension. They desire to maintain what is effectively a monopoly."

Mr Nixon said there was also little doubt that the management of the Hawke's Bay Airport did not back the idea of runway extensions and airport manager Nigel Sutton had made public statements "clearly intended to discredit the proposal".

The report said Hawke's Bay would need its 1310m runway extended to 1950m for domestic jets, and to 2200m for transtasman flights, plus an entirely new terminal building, at a cost of $10m to $12m.

But Rotorua's airport handled jets with a 1622m runway, while Wellington had 1937m for international flights, Palmerston North 1902m, Hamilton 1960m, Dunedin 1900m, and Queenstown 1911m.

"It confirms 1900 metres is sufficient," Mr Nixon said.

Hawke's Bay runway would need to be extended to 1900m to handle Boeing 737-300s, which seat 137 people, and would be ideal for direct international flights to and from Australia, he said.

There was no need for a new terminal for international services. The existing one could handle passengers, Customs and MAF staff, who were already present in Hawke's Bay to serve the port at Napier.

The report also contained huge errors in its comparisons of populations served by the various airports, Mr Nixon said. It credited Palmerston North with a catchment area of more than 800,000 people, including Wellington, which had a far better airport of its own, and all of Hawke's Bay and Taranaki and Manawatu.

When it came to Hawke's Bay, only the actual population had been taken into account.

Mr Nixon was writing to every Napier City and Hastings district councillor, asking to be allowed to put his case to them. He also wanted them to commission new information. The two councils should put in the $6m necessary to extend the runway, he said, adding that in doing so, they would save Hawke's Bay people $10m a year in excess travel costs, and boost tourism from Australia.

The founder of Wine Country Hawke's Bay, Graeme Avery, said it was "critically important" for Hawke's Bay's long-term prosperity that it had an international airport. "It's not just the immediate future. You have to plan ahead. Tourism development is longer-term, and you realise the maximum potential only when the development is put in first."

It was cheaper for Aucklanders to fly to Australian wine regions such as the Hunter Valley near Sydney than to come to Hawke's Bay, he said.

"That's a farce."

The Pricewaterhouse Cooper report was "a bitter, bitter disappointment" to Mr Avery.

"It was shallow and flawed. I don't know who they asked. There are many regions around the world they could have looked at. It was a very blinkered kind of process. I just hope it isn't put to bed like this, and that it can be re-activated with more vision and foresight.

"Of course the airlines are going to say there isn't demand, but it's not a demand-driven situation. You have to put in place the infrastructure and marketing, then the visitors come."

Mr Avery said there were various possibilities for funding an airport upgrade.

"It's not just a public issue. There are a number of other solutions and private partners who could come into it."

The fear of diseases being brought into Hawke's Bay by international aircraft was "paranoia. All those things are controllable. In the end, it is all about bringing foreign exchange into the country, and an airport with international connection is critical."

Airport manager Nigel Sutton and Airport Authority chairman Ian Lawson said they stood by Pricewaterhouse's assessment and report. They did not believe there was anything about Hawke's Bay at the moment that warranted the provision of jet services for tourism, and its population was not big enough to sustain a profitable international airport.

The Napier and Hastings councils will consider the report at a joint meeting in February.