Kerikeri Airport , also known as Bay of Islands Airport, is an airport near

Kerikeri Kerikeri () is a town in the Bay of Islands, in the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It lies at the head of Kerikeri Inlet, a northwestern arm of the Bay of Islands, where fresh water of the Kerikeri River enters the Paci ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. It is a ten-minute drive from Kerikeri and a 50-minute flight to or from

Auckland Airport Auckland Airport is an international airport serving Auckland, the most populous city of New Zealand. It is the largest and busiest airport in the country, with over 18.7 million passengers served in the year ended December 2024. The airpor ...

History

The airport was initially a grass airstrip created in the early 1930s or possibly earlier. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the airport was taken over by the Defence Department for

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF; ) is the aerial warfare, aerial military service, service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed initially in 1923 as a branch of the New Zealand Army, being known as the New Zealand Perm ...

training. After the war ended it was once again run by local government. In 1972,

Mount Cook Airlines Mount Cook Airline was a regional airline based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Formerly part of the Mount Cook Group and latterly a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, it operated scheduled services throughout the country under the Air New Zealand Li ...

decided to use the airport to connect to tourist resorts. The service failed through lack of patronage. A Kerikeri-

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

route was started by the airline but was not widely used. It was not until 1992, after the transfer of the airport to Northern Airports Corporation (now merged into Far North Holdings Ltd), that

Eagle Airways Eagle Airways was a regional airline based in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand and was wholly owned by Air New Zealand, operating regional services under the Air New Zealand Link brand. The airline was disbanded on 26 August 20 ...

(a subsidiary of

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 28 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily within the Pacific Rim. The airline h ...

) took over scheduled service and patronage on the route increased.

ceased its Kerikeri service in 2015.

Air New Zealand Link Air New Zealand Link was a brand name under which Air New Zealand's subsidiary regional airlines operated flights. They primarily connected regional centres with New Zealand's three main international airports, Auckland Airport, Wellington Inte ...

subsidiary,

Air Nelson Air Nelson was a regional airline based in Nelson, New Zealand. It was founded as an independent airline in 1979. Air New Zealand took a 50% shareholding in 1988 and 100% ownership in 1995. Air Nelson operated services on provincial routes unde ...

, (who had been operating to Kerikeri on occasion) took over the Auckland to Kerikeri route using a 50-seat Bombardier Dash 8 Q300. During the Auckland lockdown in August 2021 due to the

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Air New Zealand operated a direct service from Kerikeri to Wellington between September and December 2021. This service has not operated since. In 2024, Air New Zealand began operating the

ATR 72-600 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR. The number "72" in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 pass ...

to Auckland, complementing the Dash 8. In 2008,

Salt Air Sea spray consists of aerosol particles formed from the ocean, primarily by ejection into Earth's atmosphere through bursting bubbles at the air-sea interface Sea spray contains both organic matter and inorganic salts that form sea salt aeroso ...

began twice daily flights to

North Shore Aerodrome North Shore Aerodrome , also called North Shore Airport and Dairy Flat Airfield, is a small, uncontrolled aerodrome located south southwest of Silverdale, near Auckland in New Zealand's North Island. Operational information *Lighting (pilo ...

in Auckland with a

Cessna Caravan The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargoma ...

, utilising the Northern Busway to transport passengers to the city centre traffic free. That same year the airline began tours to a private airfield near

Cape Reinga Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua (; sometimes spelled Rēinga, ) is the northwestern most tip of the Aupōuri Peninsula, at the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand. Cape Reinga is more than 100 km north of the nearest small town ...

from Kerikeri with a

Gippsland GA8 Airvan The GippsAero GA8 Airvan 8 is a single-engined utility aircraft manufactured by GippsAero (formerly named Gippsland Aeronautics) of Victoria, Australia. It can seat up to eight people, including the pilot. The GA8 has been designed for use in ...

. The North Shore service was sold to Flight Hauraki (now Air Auckland) in 2012, before being dropped in February 2013 by the airline, less than three months after it was taken over. Salt Air operates

tours and uses Kerikeri for fixed wing operations with its sole Gippsland GA8. The runway was extended in 2014–15 and the apron area was strengthened and expanded to allow more aircraft to park. This was paid for by Air New Zealand. In October 2016 it was announced the terminal would be expanded due to an increase in passenger numbers with a record 87,000 in 2015, an increase of 33 percent since Dash 8 began servicing the Auckland-Kerikeri route. The government announced on 16 March 2018 that the airport required a new terminal to meet demand; it was one of the fastest-growing regional airports in the country handling a record 110,000 passengers in the 2017/2018 financial year. The existing terminal was not fit for purpose and did not meet Air New Zealand's requirements, while growth in passenger numbers also put pressure on the existing facilities. The new $4.75 million terminal opened on 16 June 2019 with improved arrivals and departures, baggage screening and luggage collection facilities. $1.75 million of the funding came from the government's annual $1 billion provincial growth fund, announced by the Regional economic development minister

Shane Jones Shane Geoffrey Jones (born 3 September 1959) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the New Zealand First party. Jones' political career began in 2005 as a list MP for the Labour Party. He b ...

. In 2024 Barrier Air decided to serve Kerikeri from Auckland to introduce competition on the Kerikeri to Auckland Route.

Light aircraft transit

Kerikeri Airport is used by light aircraft arriving or departing from New Zealand.

Norfolk Island Airport Norfolk Island Airport (), is the only airport on Norfolk Island, an external territory of Australia. The island is located in the Pacific Ocean between Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia. The airport is operated by the Norfolk Island R ...

is 890 km (481 nautical miles) north-west of Kerikeri, 1613 km (870 nautical miles) to

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French Sui generis collectivity, special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main i ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, or 1439 km (777 nautical miles) to

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...

which can be used as a stepping stone to the Australian mainland. These distances are within the range of many light aircraft when fitted with long range tanks, while the direct distance without using Norfolk Island as a stepping stone is usually beyond their capabilities. From New Caledonia other Pacific Islands such as Vanuatu and Fiji are within range and can be used as further 'stepping stones' to the other South Pacific and North Pacific destinations through the 'island hopping' technique. Kaitaia Airport also has fuel available and is 52 km (28 nautical miles) closer to Norfolk Island than Kerikeri.

Airlines and destinations

Alongside scheduled operators, Kerikeri Airport is also home to a skydive operator and the Bay of Islands Aero Club, both situated alongside the south-eastern grass runway.

References

External links

Kerikeri Airport
{{authority control Airports in New Zealand Far North District Transport in the Northland Region Bay of Islands Transport buildings and structures in the Northland Region

History

Light aircraft transit

Airlines and destinations

See also

References

External links