Auckland Airport lays out plan to merge domestic jet operations with international terminal

Auckland International Airport says it will start work on a NZ$1b-plus project to merge its domestic jet operations with its international terminal early next year. Auckland Airport had advanced design work and signed construction contracts for a new domestic jet hub prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it was one of several major infrastructure projects that were cancelled or deferred at the airport when the pandemic arrived. Auckland Airport CE Adrian Littlewood said the project was back on and had been refined to produce an even better end result. The first stage of the project was expected to get underway in early next year and cost $30 million. It would involve demolition work and relocating important back-of-house infrastructure that would make up the footprint of the planned domestic hub. Littlewood said construction was estimated to take five years and would begin as soon as phase one was completed. “That’s our approach unless something dramatic happens with Covid that materially changes conditions.” After infrastructure for jet operations was built work would begin on bringing over regional services from the old domestic terminal, he said. “The aim is to get under one terminal.”<br/>