Christchurch International Airport
Address: 30 Durey Road, Harewood, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
Tel: +64 3 353 7777
Web: christchurchairport.co.nz
IATA airport code: CHC
ICAO airport code: NZCH
CHC Departures today
Christchurch international airport departures
The airport is the largest in New Zealand’s South Island. It has to tolerate Auckland Airport in the country. Christchurch airport mainly offers domestic routes but also some international routes. In 2019 there was a record number of passengers. Unfortunately, this has fallen far back due to the pandemic. The main airline that uses the airport is Air New Zealand. There is 1 terminal and 3 runways.
Top routes from CHC
- AKL – Auckland
- WLG – Wellington
- NSN – Nelson
Other busy flight routes in New Zealand are Palemrston North, Dunedin, Invercargill, Tauranga, Hamilton, Napier and Queenstown.
History of Christchurch airport
The first Christchurch departures took place as early as 1936. It started out as an aerodrome but soon more land was bought. A 915 meter runway was built and a terminal was built. It was finally able to open in 1940 for commercial Christchurch airport departures. A decade later more land is purchased for two runways. Two years later, it received the country’s first International recognition. Because it became more and more popular, a new terminal had to be built a few years later and the runway had to be extended. In 1966 there was a separate section for domestic and international flights. The extensions to the terminal and extension to the runway continued for years as the Christchurch airport grew. In the end, it even managed to achieve a growth of almost 7 million passengers in the year of 2019.
Transportation
Christchurch Airport is located on the south island on the east coast. The airport located northwest of the city of Christchurch is the second largest airport in the country. You can easily get there from the center of the city by public transport (bus). There are also CHC airport departures by taxi. The taxi and your own rental car are of course also options. Renting a car is immensely popular for exploring this fantastically beautiful island. There are many rental car companies available at Christchurch airport. Examples include Thrifty, Aerodrive, Hertz, Europcar, Avis, Enterprise, Budget and EZI.
Christchurch Airport Terminal
The airport has 1 terminal with a few floors. On the ground floor are the baggage reclaim areas and the check-in counters. This is where the Christchurch departures start. After checking in via security to the gates. The gates are accessible at level 1. For Christchurch domestic departures you will be directed to the left side of the complex and for international Christchurch flight departures to the right. This has everything to do with customs / security.
There are several runways, but not all for regular passenger traffic. The runway 02/20 of 10,800 feet is used for this.
Flight routes Christchurch Airport
Due to the corona there are only a few international flights. Most current flights are domestic with Christchurch Airport departures to:
- Invercargill
- Rotorua
- Wanaka
- Palmerston North
- Wellington
- Hamilton
- Auckland
- Dunedin
- Blenheim
- Tauranga
- Napier
- Nelson
There were almost 7 million passengers at the airport in 2019. That were 50 thousand Christchurch departures. Most flights are domestic but there are also quite some international flights to Australia. Other destinations are growing rapidly as well, such as: