Oamaru Airport


Oamaru Airport is an airport located 20 km north of Oamaru just alongside of state highway 1, at Hilderthorpe in the North Otago region and the Waitaki District of New Zealand.

History

On 10 December 1960 South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand commenced a Douglas DC-3 service linking Oamaru north to Timaru and Christchurch and south to Alexandra and Invercargill. Later a stop in Gore was added. These flights ended on 28 February 1966. Later that day Mount Cook Airlines took over also using DC-3 aircraft, serving Timaru and Christchurch.
In October 1968 Mount Cook Airline began using the 52 seater HS-748 aircraft into Oamaru.
A new sealed runway at the Oamaru Airport was passed as fully operational in March 1975.
Regular scheduled services were withdrawn in 1989. In 2005 the Waitaki District Council decided to reseal the main runway.
When scheduled services resumed in 2006 and the first BAe Jetstream 32EP arrived from Christchurch a crowd of approximately 500 people were present to view its landing. The aircraft operating the inaugural service was renamed The Spirit of Waitaki in honour of the reintroduction of services to Oamaru. However, regular commercial flights to Oamaru were again withdrawn on 1 January 2010.

Aero Club

The North Otago Aero Club has been operating from the Oamaru Airport since 1956, and offers charter flights to Dunedin, Christchurch and Queenstown International Airports. In addition its Air Transport license allows flights to any airport in New Zealand. The main drawback with the club's service is that the small aircraft can only take two passengers.

Timeline of services

The town has been through a lot of hurdles to gain then lose its air service forcing residents to either travel south to Dunedin or north to Timaru to catch a flight.