Palmerston North Airport. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Palmerston North Airport is to get a long-awaited makeover.
Chief executive David Lanham said the $40 million project had been planned for seven years, and work would finally get underway this week.
The revamp will take two years, transforming the airport into a regional transport hub with better seismic resilience, more room for screening passengers and luggage, and capacity for larger passenger numbers.
A new temporary terminal was due before Christmas.
"The best place to build our new terminal is where the current one stands, so we have to be a little creative with what we do while construction is underway," Lanham said.
"We're starting by creating our temporary terminal between now and Christmas, with the plan to move operations to the temporary terminal in the New Year."
Travellers should arrive a bit earlier than usual to "ensure they can find their way around, and get to where they're going as easily as possible", he said.
"We appreciate the disruption and changes may present some frustrations, so we're working hard to keep the process as safe and smooth as possible.
"We're hopeful that our airport users will feel some level of excitement as the works start to become visible and we move one step closer to a better airport and gateway to our region."
The new terminal will be 110m long and 5000 square metres in size, and was being fully funded by the airport itself.
It was expected to be completed by late 2026.
Two airlines currently fly in and out of Palmerston North. Air New Zealand told Stuff it was working closely with the airport to "develop a terminal that meets the needs of our current customers while also supporting future operations".
Originair said it had been consulted, but was not looking forward to disruptions and hoped there were no hikes to fees charged to the airlines, which would be passed onto customers.
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