Hi Papou,
Info from WIKI
The shortness of the runway has limited the size of aircraft that can use the airport, and possible overseas destinations are limited to a small number of destinations in Australasia and the Pacific. This has led to a de facto duopoly by Air New Zealand and Qantas on international flights out of Wellington.
At 1,936 metres (6,352 ft), Wellington's runway is shorter than some New Zealand domestic airport runways, including Palmerston North and Invercargill. In fact, the smaller jet engined
Boeing 737 and
Airbus A320 aircraft currently using Wellington cannot take-off from the airport when fully loaded, as their take-off run at
maximum take-off weight (MTOW) is longer than Wellington's runway (2,300–2,550 m/7,500–8,370 ft for the 737 and 2,100 m/6,900 ft for the A320). More powerful larger mid-sized airliners such as the
Boeing 757,
Boeing 767 and
Airbus A330-200 can take off with ease but regular passenger numbers simply do not warrant their use, although both Air New Zealand and Qantas will fly their Boeing 767-300s in for one-off events such as international sports fixtures, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force may fly in their Boeing 757 transport aircraft for transport of the Governor-General or Prime Minister.
Planes larger than the 767 and A330 have landed at Wellington, but not in regular revenue service.
- A Gulf Air Airbus A340-300 carrying the Bahrain national football team landed at Wellington Airport in November 2009 for the World Cup qualifier against New Zealand at Westpac Stadium.[23] However, the short runway meant on the outbound leg the plane had to stop at Sydney for refuelling.
- On 9 February 2011, Air New Zealand landed its brand new Boeing 777-300ER, registered ZK-OKM, at Wellington for a open day of the aircraft's new long-haul cabin. Special training was required by the crew to be able to land the largest twinjet in the world at Wellington.[24]
- Following the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Air New Zealand utilised some of its Boeing 777-200ER fleet in evacuating people wanting to leave Christchurch and ferrying essential supplies into the city.[25] As the flights were only 300 km (190 mi) in distance, requiring little fuel, the aircraft could operate at full payload in and out of Wellington.
A full-length runway extension, to accommodate long-haul aircraft such as the
Boeing 747, has been investigated,
[16][26][27][28][29] but would require highly expensive
land reclamation into
Lyall Bay, and massive
breakwater protection from
Cook Strait. Doubts exist over the viability of such an undertaking, particularly as Air New Zealand has shown no interest in providing international service beyond Australia and the Pacific Islands, and no international airlines have shown serious interest in providing services beyond those points
Gordon