Timaru’s Richard Pearse Airport in New Zealand has completed a $1 million terminal upgrade to better support larger planes now being used to serve the daily Timaru to Wellington route.
Richard Pearse is the main airport in South Canterbury and serves a daily connection between Timaru and Wellington with Air New Zealand.
Timaru Mayor Damon Odey welcomed Air New Zealand chief executive officer Christoper Luxon to the new terminal, Odey said: “With the move from a 19 seater plane service to having to support up to 50 passengers at once it was becoming obvious that our tired old terminal needed an upgrade.
“For an increasing number of business and leisure travellers it is also the first impression they get when they visit our district, and it wasn’t a good one. So we’ve worked hard to provide cleaner, more modern and comfortable surroundings with more options to plug in your laptop and get some work done with a coffee or just sit and admire the amazing alpine view.”
The upgrades to the terminal include a new, larger baggage collection area, upgraded check-in desks, new seating, lighting and heating, more sockets and charging stations, as well as free Wi-Fi.
Air New Zealand regional affairs manager Ian Collier said the airline worked closely with the airport on the upgrade and explained that: “Timaru is an important port on our regional domestic network.”
He added: “With support from the Timaru community and by utilising the larger 50-seat Q300 aircraft between Timaru and Wellington we now operate 66% more seats on this route than we did two years ago.”
The toilets are also being upgraded, and a significant upgrade has been made to the car park which is now fully sealed with clearly marked pathways, with full stormwater treatment in place. With completion of the project, a daily parking charge of $5 will be introduced for those parked for more than three hours from July.
Damon added: “We considered the introduction of the parking charges carefully, we’ve set them at a level which enabled us to help fund the significant upgrade to the facilities, while still being affordable for travellers. In fact, where charges are made, its still the cheapest on-airport rate in the country.”
