Palmerston North Airport Terminal building from apron

Gulfstream 6 VP-CJR at PMR (30444137684)

Palmerston North Airport , originally called Milson Aerodrome, is an airport in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand, serving

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

City and the Central North Island regions. It is located in the suburb of Milson, on the outskirts of Palmerston North, New Zealand, approximately 5.5 km (3.4ml) NE from the central business district of Palmerston North City. The airport is 100% owned by the Palmerston North City Council and covers an area of 208ha. The airport is New Zealand's 8th busiest and handled a total of 515,727 passengers in the 2016 financial year. The airport handles around 30 commercial passenger flights per day to and from

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, Hamilton, Napier,

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

as well as cargo flights on week nights between Auckland and Christchurch. The airport operates two runways, a sealed 1902m runway and a parallel grass 608m runway, which is utilised for general aviation and training activities by Massey University's School of Aviation, Helipro and Eagle Aviation. Operating 24/7 with no curfews imposed, the airport has become a freight hub for

Parcelair Parcelair is a cargo airline based in Palmerston North, New Zealand. It operates scheduled overnight cargo services on behalf of owners Fieldair Holdings and Airwork Flight Operations. Domestic charter services are also operated. History T ...

. Common aircraft operating in Palmerston North Airport are

ATR72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed by ...

, Bombardier Q300, Boeing 737-400F and

Jetstream 31 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the British ...

. Diamond DA40 and DA42 training aircraft used by Massey University's School of Aviation are also commonly seen in the airport. In addition to the normal aircraft types, the airport is able to cater for

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

aircraft. The airport accommodates charters including business jets through to the larger Airbus A320 aircraft. The airport receives some diverted flights from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

due to adverse weather conditions there. The airport has an excellent operational preference, opening majority of the time.

History

The first

airfield An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...

on this site was created by the Milson Aerodrome Society in 1931, comprising a grass runway. It was used exclusively for private flights. The first commercial flights began in 1936, operated by Union Airways. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the airport was also used as a military facility. When the

National Airways Corporation National Airways Corporation is a commercial aviation company with its head office on the grounds of Lanseria Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. The company offers a range of products and services for fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter mark ...

commenced service to the airport in the 1950s the runway was sealed and a terminal building was constructed; jets started to serve the airport domestically operated by Air New Zealand in 1975, beginning with Boeing 737-200s. A new terminal was constructed in 1992 and a new taxiway was built in 1994. Following the major upgrades of the airport,

Freedom Air Freedom Air (legally ''Freedom Air International'') was a New Zealand low-cost airline which operated since 8 December 1995 to March 2008. It was part of the Air New Zealand Group which ran scheduled passenger services from New Zealand to Aust ...

started regular international flights to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

and Sydney in 1996. Other destinations including

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and

Nadi Nadi (pronounced ) is the third-largest conurbation in Fiji. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, and had a population of 42,284 at the most recent census, in 2007. A 2012 estimate showed that the population had ...

were added in 1999. A

Royal Brunei Airlines Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn Bhd (RB) ( ms, Penerbangan DiRaja Brunei, Jawi: ) is the national flag carrier airline of Brunei Darussalam, headquartered in the RB Campus in Bandar Seri Begawan. It is wholly owned by the Government of Brunei Da ...

Boeing 767-200 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...

landed at the airport on 10 March 2003 due to diversion, making it the first and only 767 to land at the airport. Since Freedom Air ceased operations in 2008 and Oz jet pulling out of a contract before any flights began, no carrier has served the airport with scheduled international flights. In 2014, the airport released its Master plan for 2014–2035. Some proposed ideas include further lengthening the runway, a new taxiway parallel to the runway and an

Instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

. In 2016 due to an increase in need for overnight mail, Freightways upgraded their New Zealand domestic freight fleet from the ageing Convair 580s and 5800s to the bigger and faster Boeing 737-400Fs under the new company name of Parcelair. In 2018 Palmerston North Airport contracted Higgins to start constructing taxiway Charlie.

World record

On 17 May 1998, ten people towed a fully fuelled

Boeing 737-300 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...

over 100 metres in 47 seconds, to celebrate the opening of the new runway extensions. The record was logged in the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Incidents

On 9 June 1995,

Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 was a scheduled flight from Auckland to Palmerston North. On 9 June 1995, the de Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 aircraft crashed into the Tararua Range on approach to Palmerston North. The flight attendant and th ...

, a

de Havilland Canada Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

crashed into the

Tararua Ranges The Tararua Range, often referred to as the Tararua Ranges or Tararua, is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand. The Tararua Range runs northeast–southwest for from near Palmerston North to the upper reaches of ...

, 16 km east of the airport, killing four out of the 21 people on board. The aircraft was on a VOR approach into runway 25 when the right main landing gear failed to lower, and the aircraft was allowed to descend below profile towards the ranges while the pilots were attempting the alternate gear extension procedure.

References

External links

Airport official site
{{authority control Airports in New Zealand Buildings and structures in Palmerston North Transport buildings and structures in Manawatū-Whanganui