About Invercargill Airport

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Invercargill Airport (IATA: IVC, ICAO: NZNV) is a controlled aerodrome located 1 nautical mile (2 km) west of the city centre of Invercargill at the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand.

It is the southernmost controlled airport in the Commonwealth. Formed on land reclaimed from the Waihopai/New River Estuary in 1938, the airport was prone to flooding, notably in 1984 when it was inoperable for two months.

The Invercargill City Council considered moving the airport back to Dawson Farm, Myross Bush, the original site up to 1942.

Instead, a large flood protection scheme was built, but during its construction heavy rain and an unusually high tidal surge flooded it again in 1987. There have been no problems since. The airport has a single terminal and 4 tarmac gates.
Invercargill Airport Location Map

Air New Zealand is the major carrier operating from the airport. Subsidiaries Air Nelson and Mount Cook Airline operate Bombardier Q300 and ATR-72 types, respectively. Air Nelson has a small maintenance base to service Q300s and ATR-72s as up to three aircraft are stabled overnight.

Stewart Island Flights operate inter island services to Oban, the main settlement on Stewart Island up to three time per day. Also on demand for pre-booked groups. Mainland Air operate flights to and from Dunedin on behalf of the Southern District Health Board. This service is used to transfer medical staff on a daily basis and have seats when available for purchase by the general public via their web site.

Invercargill Airport has had aspirations from the 1980s through to the 2000s as an international destination with proposals that have failed to get off the ground with nearby Queenstown being developed as a more direct route for jet aircraft. Nonetheless, Invercargill is now used as a fill-up point for international services thanks to its longer runway.

Since July 2012, Air New Zealand has used Invercargill as a technical stop when conditions in Queenstown restrict aircraft from taking off with sufficient fuel to fly directly to Australia due to inclement weather or operational reasons (e.g. high payload).

In the past such flights have been routed through Christchurch, adding two hours to the journey, but by comparison going via Invercargill saves one hour. As this is a technical stopover passengers are not able to leave the aircraft. During 2012 only two A320s were routed through Invercargill.

Invercargill does not have the appropriate border control measures to service international flights. Customs Officers from the nearby Port of Bluff provide official security services when aircraft are uplifting fuel. Virgin Australia and Qantas are also looking to use Invercargill as a standby technical stopping point for their Queenstown service to Australia, once again due to the benefit of the airport's longer runway.

On 3 March 2013, Invercargill handled over 400 passengers on International flights that were diverted from Queenstown due to low cloud.

Today the airport is visited by aircraft of the United States ANG, Australian RAAF, Italy's Aeronautica Militare and RNZAF as part of Antarctic flight diversion training. The RNZAF has used the airfield area for their Wise Owl week-long exercises at least twice a decade.

The largest aircraft to land at Invercargill is the Boeing C-17 Globemaster, although the runway has been "buzzed" by USAF KC-10 Extenders, Lockheed C-141 Starlifters and C-5 Galaxy for emergency diversion practise.

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