A passenger jet landing and taking off every 10 minutes.

That is a conclusion in a report into the underlying finances of the proposed expansion of Wanaka Airport and an investment of $400million.

That is the flight frequency needed if the industry standard investment return is to be realised.

Wanaka Stakeholders Group commissioned Richard Somerville, of Wanaka, a chartered accountant with a 25-year career in investment banking specialising in mergers and acquisitions, to conduct the “independent” assessment.

Working with publicly available data from five other airports in New Zealand and Australia, Mr Somerville concluded Wanaka Airport would require a flow of 3.14 million passenger movements each year, which would equate to about 26,200 landings and take-offs per year.

Read this Otago Daily Times article in full here.

Click here to download a copy of Richard Somerville’s financial analysis of QAC’s proposed $400m spend for Wanaka Airport.