The new domestic car park at Auckland Airport is a 'park above the rest' - literally. The car park building, which opened on the weekend, is a two-level facility.
The airport's chief executive officer says the new car park building was necessary as domestic passenger traffic continues to grow, "There is only a limited amount of car parking space close enough to the terminal, so the decision was made to go up.
It provides an extra 300 car parks immediately adjacent to the domestic terminal. "It also provides a covered car parking option. This will be offered to passengers who wish to enjoy that choice. The premium spaces are undercover and close to the domestic terminal." The construction of a two-level car park facility is the latest in a series of infrastructure development projects around the airport. These have included the widening of the main access road, and other car park extensions.
"We are really moving ahead now to service the extra volumes that are moving through the port," Huse comments, "In the past few months there has been, and continues to be, significant growth in passenger numbers and with that, the associated need for infrastructure development."
The airport earlier this year announced that it had, for the first time, processed more than 10 million passengers in a 12-month period.
This followed the announcement of a nearly 10 per cent increase in international passengers for the six months ended 31 December 2003 (on previous corresponding period), and more than 15 per cent increase in domestic passenger numbers.
This year the airport has also announced a number of expansion programmes in the international terminal. These programmes are subject to ongoing consultation with the airlines and other airport partners, and include new check-in facilities, four new aircraft stands and a new level on the international pier to separate arriving and departing passengers.
