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Wanaka Airport lies on a plateau above the village of Luggate, about ten kilometres south-east of Wanaka township in Otago, New Zealand, and is one of the country's classic mountain-flying bases. It has no scheduled airline services, instead supporting flight training, flightseeing to Milford Sound and Mount Aspiring, skydiving and warbird operations beneath the Southern Alps.
Wanaka Airport serves the resort town of Wanaka in Otago, New Zealand, and has long been associated with the pioneering days of mountain flying in the country. It is owned by the Queenstown Lakes District Council and operated by Queenstown Airport Corporation. The field has no scheduled commercial flights as of late 2025, following the withdrawal of Sounds Air and, earlier, Air New Zealand's Eagle Airways subsidiary, and instead functions as a hub for scenic and charter flights, flight training, skydiving and aircraft maintenance. For a simulator pilot it offers a genuine alpine flying environment, with the Southern Alps, Lake Wanaka and Mount Aspiring National Park all close at hand, plus the added interest of the biennial Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow and an on-site collection of historic aircraft.
The airport sits beside State Highway 6 on a plateau above the small village of Luggate, roughly ten kilometres south-east of Wanaka township, in the Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. It is an uncontrolled aerodrome using the common traffic advisory frequency system rather than a control tower.
Wanaka has two parallel runways aligned 11/29. The main runway, 11R/29L, is 3,952 feet long with a hard (sealed) surface, while the secondary runway, 11L/29R, is 3,026 feet long with a grass surface. There is no ILS. Field elevation is 1,129 feet, at coordinates 44.7222 S, 169.246 E.
Pilots use the CTAF frequency 119.1 MHz for self-announced traffic calls; the airport is unattended and has no published instrument approaches or navaids.
The airport is readily identified by its position on the plateau above Luggate village, alongside State Highway 6, with Lake Wanaka and the surrounding alpine terrain, including Mount Aspiring, forming prominent landmarks for pilots navigating toward the field.
Wanaka was originally served by the smaller Mount Iron Aerodrome before the local council decided in 1984 to develop a new airport south-east of the town by expanding a private airstrip that had been owned by Tim Wallis. The airport became central to the pioneering era of mountain flying in New Zealand. Scheduled services began on 19 March 2004 when Air New Zealand's Eagle Airways subsidiary started Christchurch flights using 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D aircraft, though these ceased in 2013; a later scheduled service by Sounds Air also ended, in 2025. The airfield is also the venue for the biennial Warbirds Over Wanaka International Air Show and hosts the National Transport and Toy Museum and the Warbirds & Wheels Museum, reflecting its long-standing aviation heritage.
Wanaka Airport operates 365 days a year and remains a busy general aviation field, hosting mountain flight training, recreational flying, flightseeing operations to destinations such as Milford Sound and Mount Aspiring National Park, skydiving, and aircraft maintenance businesses. More than a dozen aviation-related operators are based there, and the field also supports NASA balloon launches and visitor attractions including vintage aircraft and vehicle museums. There are currently no scheduled airline services.
