{"id":609427,"date":"2026-09-23T17:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609427\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T17:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:42:11","slug":"tauranga-airport-council-sets-up-working-group-on-future-governance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609427\/","title":{"rendered":"Tauranga Airport: Council sets up working group on future governance"},"content":{"rendered":"

A report authorised by council chief operating and financial officer Craig Rice said the airport was a \u201cstrategic infrastructure asset\u201d operated without ratepayer funding.<\/p>\n

The report said a new model could give the airport more independent and specialised governance while keeping it accountable to the council.<\/p>\n

Options presented included keeping the airport within the council; establishing a trust, a council-controlled organisation (CCO) or a council-controlled trading organisation (CCTO) to operate the airport; or establishing a CCTO that could allow the council to sell a minority stake in the facility. <\/p>\n

\"TaurangaTauranga Airport is currently managed as an internal Tauranga City Council activity. Photo \/ Kelly O’Hara<\/p>\n

Drysdale said councillors were not looking at selling the airport. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not the intention of this. It\u2019s about looking at the governance and delivery of airport services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the reaction in the community: \u2018They\u2019re selling the airport\u2019, well, that\u2019s not at all what this is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said councillors wanted to retain the option of selling a stake in the airport. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf in the future, we decide that we want to sell a stake then we can go out and directly consult on that so the people have a say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TaurangaTauranga Mayor Mahe Drysdale. Photo \/ Brydie Thompson<\/p>\n

The report said the airport supported about 550,000 passengers a year and generated revenue from areas including parking, property leases and terminal activities.<\/p>\n

Staff believe its size and commercial operations warranted considering a more specialised governance model.<\/p>\n

The report said there was no immediate time pressure for the council to make a decision.<\/p>\n

\"MayorMayor Mahe Drysdale says the council is not looking to sell Tauranga Airport, but wants to retain the option of selling a stake. Photo \/ Kelly O’Hara<\/p>\n

Councillors did not choose a preferred governance model, instead agreeing to establish the working group to investigate the options. <\/p>\n

Any proposed change to the airport\u2019s ownership or governance would be consulted on through the council\u2019s 2027\/37 Long-term Plan (LTP).<\/p>\n

The council also approved seeking Inland Revenue advice on tax implications of selling a minority stake.<\/p>\n

Council staff would report back on the options and tax advice before a preferred model and alternatives were put out for consultation through the Long-term Plan.<\/p>\n

No final decision on the airport\u2019s future would be made until that process was complete.<\/p>\n

Some commercially sensitive information relating to the airport discussion was not available to the public because the council said its release could disadvantage future negotiations.<\/p>\n

Councillors asked staff to make working group agendas and minutes publicly available where possible, although some information may be redacted.<\/p>\n

\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n

Ayla Yeoman<\/a> is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based in Tauranga. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in communications, politics and international relations from the University of Auckland, and has been a journalist since 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A report authorised by council chief operating and financial officer Craig Rice said the airport was a \u201cstrategic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2681,5205,3273,8559,209,111,43,139,69,90,1973,1227,810,19135],"class_list":["post-609427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-airport","tag-council","tag-future","tag-governance","tag-group","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-sets","tag-tauranga","tag-up","tag-working"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609427","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=609427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}