About Kapiti Coast Airport

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Kapiti Coast Airport (IATA: PPQ, ICAO: NZPP), earlier called Paraparaumu Airport, is on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island, between the Wellington dormitory suburbs of Paraparaumu Beach (to the west and north), Paraparaumu to the east, and Raumati Beach to the south. The Airport is located 1.8 km from Paraparaumu city center. The Wharemauku Stream flows through part of the airport's land.

Originally government-owned, the Kapiti Coast Airport was the greater Wellington region's main airport until Wellington International Airport re-opened in 1959. It was privatised in 1995.

On 29 March 2018, Air Chathams expressed an interest in starting up services to Auckland from Paraparaumu with one of its Saab 340, but the aircraft has potential performance restrictions that could cause disruptions with passenger off-loading. One solution has been proposed to operate a traffic light system north of the airport on Kapiti Road to momentarily halt traffic, but only when required for maximum performance take-off. Air Chathams estimated that, on average, the lights would be required about 10 times a week.

On 2 July 2018, Air Chathams announced they would begin services to the Kapiti Coast starting from 20 August 2018, offering 36 flights per week using the Saab 340. However, Air Chathams, well before Covid was even heard about, had reduced their six flights a day to four, and this year to two due to lack of patrons.

The runway is too short for an Air New Zealand ATR, which is now their smallest available plane for this route.

The Airport is caught between Wellington and Palmerston North Airports – the local catchment is just too small to make the airport viable.

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