Kāpiti Coast Airport: Closure raises air ambulance concerns, Aero club may bring in lawyers, Sounds Air to switch to Wellington

Detailed summary

The likely closure of Kāpiti Coast Airport has raised concerns about how emergency services could respond to major disasters. But one airline chief says the airport simply does…

Kāpiti Coast Airport is used for services including regional flights and aeromedical transfers. Photo / Rosalie Willis

The likely closure of Kāpiti Coast Airport has raised concerns about how emergency services could respond to major disasters.

But one airline chief says the airport simply does not have enough people or planes to stay open and there’s no point battling for it to stay in business.

Dylan Robinson of Skyline Aviation said the air ambulance service used the Paraparaumu airport up to 10 times a year. It used the airport when runway construction projects or weather limited Wellington Airport use.

The service used Kāpiti Coast Airport to transfer time-critical intensive care (ICU) patients from Hawke’s Bay to Wellington Hospital and to retrieve patients from the capital for specialist services only available in Auckland.

Those included the Starship Paediatric ICU or Auckland City Hospital to support patients with severe heart failure, lung failure or both.

Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford said Kāpiti Airport chief executive Chris Simpson called him last night to say the airport will close on November 30.

“Airports need people and planes and it’s got neither,” he said of Paraparaumu.

Sounds Air operates services between Kāpiti Coast and Nelson and Blenheim. It also flies between Wellington and Blenheim, Picton and Nelson.

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