CJ Wellington Metropolitan Region

Williamstown Aerodrome was built in 1928 on a very swampy marshland between Williamstown and Parnell. It all began with two tin sheds and a 750 metre dirt runway.

The aerodrome is only designed as a military plane training centre, occasional regional passenger services to Grosvenor, and some air mail service. Until 1960s, most passengers travelled on the train to Grosvenor from Wellington Central Station and most freight used boats from the Port of Stockport. The nearest airport with modern passenger facilities is Grosvenor International Airport which is approximately 5 hours away on train. In the late 1960s, there were a Wellington-Grosvenor express train every 30 minutes. Simply put, there weren't any commercial demand for passenger air services in Wellington until early 1970s. In 1970, Williamstown Aerodrome still had the same tin sheds and a 750 metre runway.


The picture above shows what it was like prior to the runway extension in the late 1970s. The yellow line shows the original coastline and the red lines shows the original roads.

After the construction of a new international terminal at Grosvenor International Airport in the 1960s, the Government of New England decided to invest on redevelopment of Williamstown Aerodrome in the 1970s.

Williamstown Aerodrome was renamed to Williamstown Airport in 1974 and the original runway was extended with additional 1,000 metres out into the water. Approximately 800 houses in South Williamstown (highlighted in red) were demolished for the runway extension. A new tin shed was built in 1975 to accommodate extra passenger services.

In 1989, the runway was extended again to the final length of 2,200 metres (all the way from one side of the coast to the other). A new modern passenger terminal was built in 1990.

Williamstown Airport was finally renamed as Wellington Airport in 1997 however many locals still refer to it as Williamstown Airport.

In 2010, a new train line to Wellington Airport was opened and is currently privately run by The Airport Rail Link Company on a 20 year lease which is due to expire in 2030. From 2030 and onwards, it will be owned by Transport for Wellington (TfW) which is managed by the Government of New England.



Wellington Airport Corporation (WAC) has recently released the Airport 2040 Master Plan which includes a lot of upgrades, extensions, and new development. WAC would like to complete all these projects by 2040:

• Development of Terminal 2 (between 2020 and 2025)
• Development of 10-storey car park building (between 2020 and 2025)
• Terminal 1 expansion (between 2025 and 2030)
• Runway extension from 2,200m to 2,800m (between 2030 and 2040)

WAC has acknowledged there is a severe shortage and limitations on land availability for development and expansions. WAC is currently working with the Government of New England to gain approvals for land reclamation at least 600 metres out into the sea. WAC is also seeking an approval to "mine" a very small section of the Parnell Hills (on the northern side of the hill next to the airport) to build more flat land for additional development in the future.

The current passenger numbers at Wellington Airport is 9.9 million annually (approximately 75% is from domestic and regional routes). By 2040, the number is expected to rise to at least 22 million annually.