Kia ora Tory,

Referring to the "Non-stop flights from Wellington to Asia and beyond a step closer” section of Airport’s newsletter:

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Non-stop flights from Wellington to Asia and beyond a step closer

Wellington Airport has unveiled plans for $500 million in new infrastructure spending over the next five years, including runway safety improvements which will extend the usable length of the runway.

Along with improvements to new aircraft performance, it will create exciting possibilities for connecting Wellington non-stop to destinations in Asia and beyond.

As part of this investment we’re also planning terminal improvements to begin next year including upgrades to arrival and departure areas, a new multi-level bar, and a new café with 270-degree views across the airport.

You can read more about our plans for the future here.

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Below is the essence of the failure of politics, and in this case, you failing on your commitment to stop the airport expansion. Not only is it going Eastwards, over the golf course, it is also going ahead with its runway extension, bragging about it, something even a court case ruling it out a few years couldn’t stop it seems. The airport really does whatever they want. This expansion will bring more, bigger planes to Wellington, increasing GHG emissions, submitting nearby communities to yet more noise pollution. But at this stage, who cares about them? I’m lying: the Eastern communities have long been considered a collateral damage by the Council, so it’s all very consistent. The Eastern Councillors are equally transparent on this issue.

And who still cares about the climate? Growing the airport seems to be fine with this Council, despite having declared a climate emergency a few years ago, and despite the airport representing 25% of our transport emissions (according to WCC & GWRC). But let’s get all on our bikes, to pretend we care about the climate, and grow this business as if none of that mattered! Speak of double standards ….

This kind of email from the airport makes me sick to the stomach, rendering their greenwashing and their supposedly community engagement plain gross.

In this instance, thanks for nothing.

The disappointment and my disengagement is total.

Nga mini,

Benoit

PS: since on the topic, never once in the airport sale debacle was it mentioned how polluting this business was. It was all presented as a divestment initiative for insurance purposes (or other matters, it was all very unclear in the end), the climate considerations not being remotely acknowledged.