Wellington International Airport (formerly known as Rongotai Airport) (IATA: WLG, ICAO: NZWN) is an international airport located in the suburb of Rongotai in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. It is a secondary hub and focus city for Air New Zealand and its subsidiaries. The airport is operated by Wellington International Airport Limited, a joint venture between Infratil and the Wellington City Council.
Wellington is the third-busiest airport in New Zealand (after Auckland and Christchurch) handling a total of 5,134,230 passengers in the year ending 31 March 2011. The airport, in addition to linking many New Zealand destinations with national and regional carriers, also has links to major cities in eastern Australia. It is the home of some smaller general aviation businesses, including Wellington Aero Club, which operates from the general aviation area on the western side of the runway.
The airport is on a small 110-hectare (270-acre) site on the Rongotai isthmus, a stretch of low-lying land between Wellington proper and the Miramar Peninsula. It operates a single 1,936-metre (6,352 ft) runway with ILS in both directions, capable of handling aircraft up to the Boeing 767-300 and Airbus A330-200 (although the largest aircraft to use Wellington in regular service in 2010 are the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737-800). The airport is bordered by residential and commercial areas to the east and west, and Wellington Harbour and Cook Strait to the north and south respectively.
Wellington has a reputation of having rough and turbulent landings, even in larger aircraft, due to the channelling effect of Cook Strait creating significant crosswinds to an aircraft approaching from the south.
Read more about Wellington International Airport: History, Terminal and Piers, Air Movements Rongotai, Access, Incidents, Airlines and Destinations
Famous quotes containing the words wellington and/or airport:
“When Wellington thrashed Bonaparte,
As every child can tell,
The House of Peers, throughout the war,
Did nothing in particular,
And did it very well:”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)
“It was like taking a beloved person to the airport and returning to an empty house. I miss the people. I miss the world.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)