FUTURE PLAN FOR AIRPORT

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31081, 9 June 1966, Page 22

FUTURE PLAN FOR AIRPORT

New Terminal Envisaged

It was hoped in five to seven years’ time to devote the present terminal at Christchurch International Airport to domestic service, and to construct a new terminal for overseas traffic, the airport manager (Mr A. I. R. Jamieson) told a luncheon of the Christchurch branch of the Insurance Institute of New Zealand yesterday. It was estimated that by 1975, the present internal air traffic would have doubled to about one million passengers a year. The international traffic was also expected to double, with direct services to many countries, he said. With the new jet services, immediate alteration and expansion of the facilities would be required. Other facilities, such as bus services into Christchurch, would also have to be streamlined, Mr Jamieson said. With an area of 1200 acres, Christchurch airport was the biggest in the country, and although it did not handle the most passengers or scheduled air services, air traffic control at the airport was the busiest in New Zealand. Speaking on the financial structure of the airport, Mr Jamieson said that it was shared jointly by the Christchurch City Council and the Government on a £1 to £1 basis. Profit or loss was shared, although the airport had not been “in the red” for the last six yearsChristchurch airport would soon have all the sophistications of an international airport, with instrument landing equipment and other features which would make it as safe as any civil airport in the world, Mr Jamieson said.