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An aerial view of the Kāpiti Coast Airport, which has drastically reduced its operating hours for the next seven weeks.
Kāpiti Airport was suddenly closed on Sunday following a threat on social media, compounding the challenges facing the airport, which will be closed for several hours every day for the next seven weeks due to a “severe” shortage of staff. specialized.
The airport was alerted to the “possible security event” Sunday morning, with the facility closed to air traffic around noon, an airport spokeswoman said. He was unable to comment on the nature of the threat or what platform it was created on.
“We take the safety of our staff, Airways staff and the public very seriously,” he said.
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“As such, as a precautionary measure, the tower and runway were closed while the police investigated. Since then, the police have considered any threat to be low risk, ”he said.
Police received a report regarding comments on social media directed at Kāpiti airport on Sunday morning, a spokeswoman said. It made the decision to close as a precautionary measure and an investigation into the comments was underway, it said.
Monique Ford / Stuff
Various sources have been claiming for months that the Kāpiti coast airport is scheduled to close. Its owner says no such decision has been made.
This came a day after the airport, which is usually open more than 1 pm Monday through Friday during the summer, began to restrict operating hours on Saturday. It will be closed for approximately six to seven hours most days of the week and for a few hours on Saturdays through February 1.
Emergency services will still be able to use the airport, located in Paraparaumu, a 45-minute drive north of Wellington, when it is closed.
The reduction in operating hours during the summer follows months of speculation that NZPropCo, which currently owns the airport, plans to shut it down.
However, NZPropCo said it had not yet made a decision on the future of the airport and was considering “a variety of options.”
A spokeswoman for NZPropCo said that since a fatal triple plane crash at the airfield in 2008, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had asked her to operate an aerodrome flight information service (AFIS).
AFIS workers meet at the airport control tower and provide pilots with information, such as whether other planes are taking off or landing, by radio.
New Zealand’s air navigation service provider Airways employs four AFIS employees who are based at Kāpiti Airport.
Two of them had recently resigned. Replacement staff had been hired but were still undergoing training.
NZPropCo said it was working with Airways to minimize the impact of the staff shortage, but to meet its security obligations, it was forced to shut down when AFIS personnel were not on duty.
The reduction in operating hours coincides with the busiest time of year for the Kāpiti Aeroclub, which is based at the airport. The flying club said it could lose a “significant” amount of money due to the closures.
Kāpiti Aeroclub President Tony Quayle said he understood that the airport should be able to operate as usual if it reported the staffing problem to the CAA, as at such a small airport pilots could communicate with each other by radio instead to trust AFIS.
Ross Giblin / Stuff
The mayor of Kāpiti, K (Guru) Gurunathan has been advocating for the Kāpiti airport to remain open and for the land to be returned to the local hapū.
Kāpiti Mayor K Gurunathan, who advocated keeping the airport open for a long time, agreed.
He said independent aviation experts had told him that the airport did not require AFIS: “This is not a busy airport.”
The mayor was concerned that the reduction in operating hours was the beginning of the end for the airport.
“It is death by a thousand cuts,” he said.
But NZPropCo said it wasn’t that simple.
“Continuing to operate in this situation, where AFIS is sometimes off duty when they would normally be on duty, would be a violation of our existing security obligations,” a spokeswoman said. Stuff.
Quayle said the flight training brought him $ 140,000 in revenue for the flying club between December 12 and February 1 last summer.
This year had been a “really good year” for the organization and it had forecast revenue of $ 160,000 for the same period this year.
However, after the airport cut operating hours, I expected to earn much less.
The CAA did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
