Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Nelson Airport (ICAO: NZNS, IATA: NSN) serves the city of Nelson at the northern tip of New Zealand's South Island and is the country's busiest airport without scheduled international service. It combines a single sealed runway with two grass strips, and is home to Air Nelson's Dash 8 fleet as well as a range of general aviation and charter operators, making it a varied and useful reference point for VFR pilots in the region.
Nelson Airport lies in the Annesbrook suburb on the edge of Nelson city, on the South Island of New Zealand. It is a regional hub served by an Aerodrome Flight Information Service rather than a full control tower, and it hosts Air Nelson, the Air New Zealand Link subsidiary that operates a fleet of Bombardier Dash 8 Q300s from the field, along with an associated engineering and maintenance base. For a simulator pilot the airport offers an interesting mix of a substantial sealed runway alongside two grass strips, set against the backdrop of Tasman Bay and the surrounding hills.
The airport sits about 6 km south-west of central Nelson, in the suburb of Annesbrook, at coordinates 41.2983 S, 173.221 E and an elevation of 13 feet. Christchurch Control provides area and approach service in the surrounding airspace, working alongside the local Aerodrome Flight Information Service at Nelson itself.
Nelson has one sealed runway, 02/20, measuring 4374 feet and lit, forming the main instrument-capable strip for scheduled and larger aircraft. Alongside it are two grass runways: 02L/20R, at roughly 2256-2257 feet, running parallel to the main strip, and a shorter crosswind grass runway, 06/24, at 1975 feet. There is no ILS at the field.
Nelson operates an Aerodrome Flight Information Service on 123.7 MHz. The tower/CTAF frequency is 127.4 MHz, which is also used by Christchurch Control for approach service in the area. An ATIS broadcast is available on 129.1 MHz, and a clearance delivery frequency of 123.3 MHz is also listed for the field.
Construction of Nelson Airport began in 1937, and the field has since grown into the busiest airport in New Zealand without any scheduled international service. Air New Zealand invested significantly, around 30 million dollars, in expanding the Air Nelson engineering and technical workshops at the airport, which went on to also handle maintenance for fellow subsidiary Mount Cook Airline's ATR 72-600 fleet. In 2014 the main terminal was assessed by Nelson City Council as an earthquake risk with potential liquefaction issues, and in September 2015 airport management opted to rebuild the terminal rather than renovate it, to meet future growth needs.
Nelson remains the home base of Air Nelson, which flies Bombardier Dash 8 Q300s under the Air New Zealand Link banner, supported by an on-site engineering and maintenance facility that also services Mount Cook Airline's ATR 72-600 aircraft. The wider airport precinct is home to some 35 aeronautical and support businesses, and the field also supports scenic and charter operations, including services such as Golden Bay Air. A long-term development programme, referred to as Project 2-Zero, has secured planning certainty for a future runway extension, pointing to further infrastructure change at the airport in the years ahead.