Crown share of Wanganui historic losses settled

DATE: 19 April 2007
MEDIA
RELEASE

Chief Executive of the Ministry of Transport, Alan Thompson and Chief Executive at Wanganui District Council, Dr David Warburton, have signed an agreement settling the Crown’s share of historic losses at Wanganui Airport.

Wanganui Airport is one of seven remaining unincorporated joint venture airports owned jointly by the Crown and local authorities, where the local authority is responsible for the management and operation of the airport. In 2005, following an approach from Wanganui District Council, Cabinet overturned the Crown’s policy of not injecting funds to any of the joint ventures which had applied since 1990. Since then, the Crown has co-funded capital expenditure at Wanganui, Westport and Taupo airports as well as seeking to settle liabilities for past losses at each of those airports.

The losses were incurred by the airport over a period of 15 years and it was not until recently that agreement was reached to deal with them. The losses relate to the general running of the airport and not to any specific item or event.
Alan Thompson and David Warburton say that the agreement is a fair outcome to both the Crown and the Wanganui District Council. “It has not been easy to sort out the issues and it has taken two years to finally resolve the problems. However, we have now reached an agreement that will enable both parties to move forward with certainty and have in place an agreement that deals with such matters” say Mr Thompson and Dr Warburton.

ENDS