Passenger Numbers Flying High at Airport

New Plymouth Airport is winging its way towards higher customer numbers for the tenth year in a row.


In every year since 1998 the airport has recorded more people travelling through the facility than in the previous year – and 2007 looks like it will continue the trend.

“In October alone we had 24,804 passengers through the terminal – 14.5 per cent more than the 21,662 in October last year,” says General Manager Community Assets Anthony Wilson.

“All of the three quarters completed so far in 2007 have seen more passengers than during the same periods last year.

“Overall, we’re on track to reach about 275,000 by the end of the year – a 10 per cent increase on the nearly 250,000 people who went through the airport in 2006.”

Interestingly, more people landed at the airport in October than left. “The number of arrivals and departures are usually about the same every month, but we’ve got 1,000 additional people here from the October flights,” says Mr Wilson.

“They might have stayed around for the rhododendron festivals, which didn’t finish until early November.”

From 1987 to 1997 the annual passenger movement numbers fluctuated between a low of 121,950 (in 1991) and a high of 141,950 (in 1994). But since 1998 the numbers have increased year on year.

In 2003 New Plymouth District Council prepared an Airport Master Plan to manage the growth in passenger movements and business over the coming years – but already the airport is seeing numbers that were not expected until 2012.

Mr Wilson says since the master plan was completed, Air New Zealand has put a lot of effort into promoting low-cost domestic air travel – such as introducing Grab a Seat flights through New Plymouth this year.

“In recent years the region has also seen greater activity in the petrochemical industry as well as growth in the visitor sector through events such as WOMAD, the ITU World Cup Triathlon and concerts.

“The Taranaki economy in general has out-performed the national economy every year since 2000, so there is more discretionary spend to invest in activities such as travel.

“For whatever reason, people are flying more regularly and we’re seeing the result of that at the airport with nearly full car parks, a very successful café and record-breaking passenger numbers,” he says. 

Total passenger movements - New Plymouth Airport (7KB PDF)