Queenstown Airport

Queenstown Airport
Queenstown Airport from Deer Park Heights
IATA: ZQN ICAO: NZQN
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Auckland Airport Corp, Queenstown Lakes District Council, Shareholders
Operator	Queenstown Airport Corporation Ltd.
Serves	Queenstown, Arrowtown
Location	Queenstown, New Zealand
Elevation AMSL	357 m / 1,171 ft
Coordinates	45°01′16″S 168°44′21″E / 45.02111°S 168.73917°E / -45.02111; 168.73917Coordinates: 45°01′16″S 168°44′21″E / 45.02111°S 168.73917°E / -45.02111; 168.73917
Website	queenstownairport.co.nz
Map
Queenstown Airport Location of Queenstown Airport within New Zealand
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 05/23 1,891 6,204 Grooved Bitumen 14/32 890 2,920 Bitumen
Statistics (July 2014 to July 2015)
Passengers total 1,409,663 Aircraft movements 41,769
Source:

Queenstown Airport (IATA: ZQN, ICAO: NZQN) is located in Frankton, Otago, New Zealand, and serves the resort town of Queenstown. The airport is 8 km (5.0 mi) or a 10-minute drive from the Queenstown CBD. The airport handled 1.4 million airline-scheduled passengers for the year ending June 2015, with passenger numbers still growing rapidly. At present it is the fourth busiest airport in New Zealand by passenger traffic. The airport has a single-level terminal building with 9 tarmac/ramp gates and all passengers disembark onto the tarmac (the airport does not use airbridges/jetways).

Queenstown Airport was first licensed to operate in 1935, but it was not until the 1950s that commercial flights became commonplace, particularly commercial ‘flightseeing’ operations to Milford Sound. A regular scenic route between Queenstown and Dunedin was first established by Southern Scenic Air Services Ltd on 17 July 1950.Mount Cook Airline was the pioneer of tourist flights into Queenstown.

In the 1960s, the grass runway was lengthened and regular services from Christchurch began on 6 November 1961 operating DC-3s with three flights a week on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday to Queenstown via Mount Cook and onto Te Anau/Manapouri. Services to other domestic destinations soon followed. Later in 14 October 1968, HS-748 aircraft were used which could carry between 42 and 58 passengers.

A mainstay of the Milford route was the Britten Norman Islander which began service in September 1970. They were used extensively on the flights to Milford Sound as well as on the Queenstown-Te Anau and Queenstown-Alexandra-Dunedin routes.

Ansett New Zealand in 1989 starts the first jet aircraft flights (BAe 146 Whisper Jet) into Queenstown Airport. Air New Zealand followed in 1992 with Boeing 737-200 aircraft.