Invercargill Airport (NZNV)

 airport, domestic/regional airport

Invercargill Airport (IATA: IVC, ICAO: NZNV) is a fully secured controlled international designated airport located 1.6 km (one mile) west of the Central business district of Invercargill at the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand

The airport is only 3 km from the centre of the bustling provincial city of Invercargill (population 50,000). Both Air New Zealand and Origin Pacific (code shared with Qantas) operate regular scheduled services to Christchurch and beyond. Regular scheduled services to Stewart Island are operated by Stewart Island Flights.

The airport has a modern terminal building and international arrival and departure facilities are also available. It has a sealed runway of length 1,710 metres. Not only does it receive occasional charter flights from Australia, it is used by Qantas for diverted flights between Australia and Queenstown if Queenstown airport is inoperable due to adverse weather conditions.

HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT OF INVERCARGILL AIRPORT

The land for airport development was purchased in 1934. The land is reclaimed estuary land and the airport was constructed during World War 2 so that it could be used as an emergency landing ground for the military.

The first commercial aircraft operation was in 1944 when passenger services to Dunedin were introduced using Lockheed Electra aircraft.

Subsequent significant events and dates are as follows:

1952 - First Terminal building opened
1956 - Runway lengthened to 3,500 feet and sealed, DC3s introduced
1957 - Hangar No. 3 constructed, allowing large aircraft to remain overnight
1958 - Joint Venture Agreement between the Government / Local Authorities to own and manage the airport
1960 - Runway extended to 4,000 feet
. . .
2001 - Tasman Pacific Airlines of NZ placed into receivership and subsequently into liquidation
2001 - Air NZ increased its number of scheduled flights to provide additional capacity in view of the Qantas NZ collapse
2002 - Origin Pacific commenced operations into Invercargill
2003 - Upgraded passenger baggage claim facility opened

Operator: Invercargill Airport Ltd

ourairports.com/airports/NZNV/