{"id":382523,"date":"2026-04-16T13:28:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T13:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/382523\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T13:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T13:28:26","slug":"whanganui-district-council-finishes-6-7m-parallel-taxiway-at-whanganui-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/382523\/","title":{"rendered":"Whanganui District Council finishes $6.7m parallel taxiway at Whanganui Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2024, the Chronicle reported the council would build<\/a> a partial parallel taxiway, phase one of the project, for $3.6m, a decision unanimously supported by elected members. <\/p>\n

At the time, the ministry declined to provide its funding share because it deemed the project non-essential \u2013 a view shared by airport users Air Chathams and Aerowork. <\/p>\n

Air Chathams\u2019 planes are too large to use the taxiway. <\/p>\n

However, Associate Transport Minister James Meager announced last August <\/a>the Government would provide $3.35m to finish the entire taxiway, saying it would reduce the need for aircraft to backtrack on the active runway before take-off and after landing.<\/p>\n

The partial taxiway ran from the New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy\u2018s (NZICPA\u2019s) hangar to the threshold of the main runway.<\/p>\n

Wanganui Aero Club chief flying instructor Jonathan Mauchline said the full taxiway was \u201ca bit of an asset to the airport\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"WanganuiWanganui Aero Club chief flying instructor Jonathan Mauchline. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

\u201cIn winter, the ground gets a bit soft, and this is a lot more all-weather,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also a lot better for night flying. We can taxi right down to the end without having to wait for aeroplanes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Fulton Hogan did a good job with the project and included offshoots to fuel pump stations. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe airport is looking pretty smart at the moment, to be fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fulton Hogan resealed the airport\u2019s main runway in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A full taxiway was a key recommendation<\/a> in a 2019 aeronautical study, although there was no legal requirement to build it.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hagan, also the council\u2019s chief strategy officer, said the taxiway would improve safety and operational efficiency.<\/p>\n

\u201cImprovements include enhanced aircraft movement areas, reduced runway occupancy times and better separation between aircraft on the ground, resulting in smoother, safer operations for airlines, pilots and ground crews.\u201d<\/p>\n

NZ Airline Academy (NZAAL) director Celroy Mascarenhas said the taxiway had \u201ccome with a big price tag\u201d but was, in his opinion, money well spent.<\/p>\n

NZAAL has taken over NZICPA\u2019s facilities at the airport<\/a>, with NZICPA moving to the aero club until it closes mid-year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAir Chathams can\u2019t use it but they are coming in three times a day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are hundreds of other movements every day and [the taxiway] will make a world of difference.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Air Chathams] benefit from it in the fact that it keeps everyone out of their way and it decongests the whole place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2024, the Chronicle reported the council would build a partial parallel taxiway, phase one of the project,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[78013,198775,2681,6224,1975,4282,138,5205,7557,33035,7240,1132,111,139,69,26859,198776,25530,312,198778,198777,1883,1533],"class_list":{"0":"post-382523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-78013","9":"tag-67m","10":"tag-airport","11":"tag-airports","12":"tag-at","13":"tag-boss","14":"tag-business","15":"tag-council","16":"tag-district","17":"tag-finishes","18":"tag-lead","19":"tag-million","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-newzealand","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-operations","24":"tag-parallel","25":"tag-safer","26":"tag-says","27":"tag-smoother","28":"tag-taxiway","29":"tag-whanganui","30":"tag-will"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}