Airports

Airports are critical pieces of regional infrastructure and are vital to the health and future of our regional economies.

Often the gateway for welcoming visitors, airports offer regional businesses opportunities to export, expand and grow, and improve regional communities’ transport resilience in the event of a natural disaster.

Kānoa’s Provincial Growth Fund has helped fund several airport improvements throughout the motu from Kerikeri to Invercargill. With all of these projects now concluded the sky is well and truly the limit. Learn more about Kānoa’s airport projects below:

Gisborne Airport

A modern airport terminal, blurry pilots rolling suitcases walk past, passengers and members of the public waiting in the background.

Gisborne Airport received a $5.5 million Provincial Growth Fund grant to develop a new, future-proof terminal building, allowing the airport to accommodate larger planes and greater numbers of travellers.

Completed in 2020, Gisborne airport is recognised as New Zealand's most sustainable airport. The new terminal building is 100% self-sufficient, featuring rammed-earth walls made from local recycled products, solar power panels on the roof, and water harvested from roof rainwater. The new terminal building design also pays tribute to Tairāwhiti’s surrounding landscape and local history, featuring extensive carving and other artworks.

The project has improved the resilience of the airport to provide reliable air connections for businesses and travellers to a relatively isolated, but strategically important regional city.

Invercargill Airport

The outside of the Invercargill Airport showing the main entrance, pedestrian crossing and the sun reflecting off the glass panels on the side of the building. In 2019 Invercargill celebrated its first jet flight between Auckland and Invercargill in 24 years after receiving a $500,000 grant from Kānoa’s Provincial Growth Fund. The grant enabled the airport to rapidly upgrade its facilities to manage increased freight volumes and passenger movements that accompanied the new A320 and A321 jet services.

An Air New Zealand service between Auckland and Invercargill now runs five days a week and supports air freight to and from the region.

Southland has significantly benefited from this service including the exporting of regional goods to other domestic and international destinations.

Bay of Islands Airport

The outside of the Bay of Islands Airport - wooden panels on the outside, Māori designs and a sign saying 'BAY OF ISLANDS AIRPORT'. Two people are waiting outside. In 2019, the Bay of Islands Airport in Kerikeri opened the doors on its stunning new terminal building after receiving a $1.75 million grant from Kānoa’s Provincial Growth Fund.

The new terminal has been future-proofed for projected visitor growth arriving in the Far North with larger departure and arrival areas, a separate luggage collection area, an elevated public viewing gallery and a bookable meeting space.

The airport now includes 2 incredible carved pou at its airside entrance as well as sculptures inside that represent the first meeting in Aotearoa New Zealand between Māori, Europeans and Tahitians.

The project was co-funded by Far North Holdings Limited, Air New Zealand, and Kānoa.

Taupō Airport

Image of the outside of the Taupō Airport - a small, modern building with a new road outside and a group of people walking in the door, carrying luggage. In 2023, the redevelopment of Taupō Airport was completed following a $5.87 million grant from Kānoa’s Provincial Growth Fund.

A key gateway to the Central North Island and the Central Plateau, Taupō Airport’s redevelopment features a brand-new terminal, an extended runway apron, and carpark.

The airport has now been future-proofed to handle larger planes and the increased volume of travelers arriving in Taupō, as well as ensuring the financial sustainability of the Taupō Airport Authority.

The new terminal is three times bigger than the previous building and features locally salvaged rimu, stone from the local quarry, and timber from the district.

The redevelopment was funded in partnership with the Taupō District Council.

Hokitika Airport

Image taken out of a plane window. The wing of the plane goes across the top of the image and pink and orange colours are on the hills in the distance from the sky. The plane is still on the ground. The Hokitika Airport is a crucial piece of regional infrastructure on the West Coast and in 2020, Kānoa’s Provincial Growth Fund approved a $1.241 million investment to extend the passenger terminal building by 208 square metres.

Finished in 2022, the terminal extension allows for more efficient passenger processing, room for shops and cafés, and meets the future requirements of aircraft and passenger number growth.

As the main airport on the West Coast, these improvements support the region’s economic development and resilience, while giving key sectors the confidence they need to consistently connect to their markets.