Breaking The Constraints

A new runway extentsion for Wellington Airport will allow widebody international services

New Zealand’s capital was moved from Auckland to Wellington in 1865 to balance the political interests of the North and South Islands, yet a vibrant and multi-faceted economy developed. 150 years later, the deepwater harbour and situation as a refuge from the Roaring Forties winds blasting across Cook Strait both combine to stymie airport – and economic – development in Wellington’s sesquicentennial year.

Wellington’s geographical challenges – being a hilly harbour city in an earthquake-prone region where the only runway-sized flat land is on an isthmus raised up by an earthquake in the late 1400s – mean that its airport is physically constricted, nestling under the Miramar Peninsula with approaches parallel to hills that often cause turbulence on approach.