Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Dunedin Airport, officially Dunedin International Airport, serves the city of Dunedin and the wider Otago and Southland regions from the village of Momona on the Taieri Plains. It offers a single long paved runway with ILS in both directions, making it a straightforward but busy destination for both airline traffic and general aviation, including the resident Mainland Air flight school and charter operation.
Dunedin Airport, known officially as Dunedin International Airport and sometimes as Momona Airport, is the principal airport for the city of Dunedin and serves the Otago and Southland regions of New Zealand's South Island. It is operated by Dunedin International Airport Limited, a company jointly owned by the Dunedin City Council and the Crown. For a visiting VFR pilot it combines airline-scale infrastructure, including a single ILS-equipped runway capable of handling aircraft up to Boeing 767 size, with an active general aviation presence, notably the Mainland Air flight school and charter operation based in a hangar beside the terminal.
The airport lies adjacent to the village of Momona on the Taieri Plains, approximately 22 kilometres south west of Dunedin's city centre. It is one of two international airports in Otago, the other being Queenstown International Airport, and is the third busiest and largest airport in the South Island after Christchurch International and Queenstown.
Dunedin has a single physical runway, 03/21, 6185 feet long with a hard surface, lit, and equipped with ILS approaches in both directions.
Dunedin provides an Aerodrome Flight Information Service on 129.3 MHz. The common traffic advisory frequency, tower and ATIS services operate on 120.7 MHz (CTAF/TWR) with ATIS separately on 126.45 MHz. Christchurch Control provides approach control also on 120.7 MHz. The field is equipped with ILS on both runway directions.
The present airport was built to replace the older Taieri airfield, which was not considered economic to expand for the anticipated growth in air travel, with construction completed in 1962. NZNAC began Fokker Friendship services immediately on opening, followed by Vickers Viscount services from December 1962, and a large new hangar was completed in 1963. Mount Cook Airlines served Dunedin from March 1966 to July 1991, and NAC introduced Boeing 737 services in December 1968. The terminal saw various upgrades through the 1970s, including automatic sliding doors in 1969 and an aircraft viewing deck in 1974. On 19 December 1979 the airport was the scene of a hostage crisis when two borstal escapees held a police officer in the control tower, and the airport was closed by flooding from June to July 1980. Ansett New Zealand began Boeing 737 services, later replaced by BAe 146 aircraft, from December 1988, with airline lounges and airbridges added the same year. The runway was extended to 1,900 metres (6,200 feet) in May 1993, and the first international flight, a Qantas Boeing 737-300, arrived in July 1994. Kiwi Travel International Airlines began transtasman services in August 1995, followed by Freedom Air in December that year, while Mount Cook Airlines introduced ATR-72 services in November 1995. Kiwi Air collapsed in September 1996. Ansett New Zealand became Qantas New Zealand in September 2000 and itself collapsed in April 2001, with Origin Pacific stepping in for a period. Freedom Air launched international routes to Brisbane, Sydney and, seasonally, Melbourne from 2002, and the present terminal building opened in October 2005. Freedom Air was absorbed into Air New Zealand at the end of March 2008. Virgin Australia began flying to Dunedin in July 2008, followed by Jetstar in July 2011. Virgin Australia ceased Sydney and Melbourne services in 2014, and its last Brisbane flight arrived on 22 March 2020 as Virgin Australia entered voluntary administration amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The airport's name changed from Dunedin International Airport to Dunedin Airport in 2015. On 24 June 2025 the airport received its first international flight since the start of the pandemic, a Jetstar service from Gold Coast Airport in Queensland.
Dunedin Airport today handles both scheduled airline services, including Air New Zealand and Jetstar, and general aviation activity. Mainland Air, a flight school and charter operator, is based in a hangar next to the terminal building, giving the field an active training and light-aircraft presence alongside its airline traffic. In October 2024 the airport introduced a three-minute drop-off zone rule at the terminal to manage traffic flow, though this has no bearing on flying operations.