PO Box 14001
Christchurch 8544
New Zealand
Telephone (+64 3) 358 5029
christchurchairport.co.nz
13 September 2023
Tracy Mahy
Email: C/- [FYI request #23862 email]>
Tēnā koe Tracy
OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982 (OIA) – REQUEST FOR INFORMATION -
CHRISTCHURCH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LIMITED (CIAL)
1.
We write further to our email of 18 August 2023, acknowledging receipt of your OIA
request of 16 August 2023 seeking information (if held by CIAL) in relation to the
proposed Central Otago airport project:
Request : Received 13 August – Tarras Airport. Engagement with local flying
organisations
This is a request for all documentation (including emails and presentations) showing
your Engagement with national, regional and local aviation/flying/GA organisations
about the airport at Tarras. Last three years please.
2.
CIAL will provide you with the requested information where it is able. However, you
will note within this letter that it is occasionally unable to release requested
information if it would prejudice or disadvantage CIAL’s commercial activities. Before
we answer your specific queries, it may be helpful to provide some context to this.
3.
The OIA permits an organisation to refuse to release requested information it holds if
the withholding of such information is necessary to enable the organisation to carry
out its commercial activities or negotiations without prejudice or disadvantage (s 9(i)
and s9(j) OIA) provided that such withholding is not outweighed in the circumstances
by the public interest in making the specific information available. For example, while
it may be in the public interest to understand that CIAL is investigating the feasibility
of establishing an airport in Central Otago that does not mean CIAL must share every
detail of its analysis, work or negotiations within specific work streams.
4.
At present CIAL is under no legal obligation to consult in relation to the Project. To
assist public understanding of the context of the Project and CIAL’s decisions, CIAL
has committed to, and does, proactively publish information as it completes pieces of
work which is likely to be in the public interest to receive on its dedicated Project web-
site at
https://www.centralotagoairport.co.nz/. Until work is completed, it is not
capable of being released. Over time this will see more information voluntarily
released. In such instances the public interest test will have been considered and
weighed up as part of the decision whether to release information or not. Equally,
each OIA query CIAL receives will be assessed on a case by case basis given the
particular given facts and circumstances at play at that time.
5.
CIAL is a council-controlled trading organisation that has been specifically established
to operate and manage its business as an independent commercial undertaking for
the purposes of making a profit, and to follow generally accepted commercial practices
and disciplines. CIAL is not a public body collecting and spending public funds. It
operates as a wholly commercial, standalone entity. Due to the size and scale of those
activities it is one of only three major airports in New Zealand regulated under Part 4
of the Commerce Act.
6.
As an airport CIAL has a further overriding obligation under the Airport Authorities Act
to act as a commercial undertaking. It does so in a commercially competitive
environment both domestically and internationally, where its competitors are not
under corresponding disclosure requirements. The proposed Central Otago airport
project is a complex commercial activity, acknowledged as being in competition with
the interests of other airports within New Zealand.
7.
In respect of your request, we respond as follows:
Request:
“This is a request for all documentation (including emails and presentations) showing
your Engagement with national, regional and local aviation/flying/GA organisations
about the airport at Tarras. Last three years please.”
8.
We can confirm that we have met with Gliding New Zealand on 17 November 2022
and 28 August 2023. We do not hold documentation from these meetings as the
purpose of meeting with this entity, was to have a general discussion of our plans for
the airport, gauge their interest levels and open a line of direct communication with
such operators as the project advances. It is also worth noting that during the recent
community drop-in sessions hosted at Tarras, Cromwell and Wanaka, we welcomed
and answered questions from individuals that identified with GA airspace users in the
region (e.g. Cromwell Aerodrome, Wanaka Airport).
9.
The disclosure of the identity of any commercial aviation organisations we may have
met with and the contents of such discussions, is information that may impact on
CIAL’s ability to carry out its commercial activities in relation to the Project without
disadvantage. Accordingly, at this time, this information is withheld under Section
9(2)(i) of the OIA.
10.
We trust we have answered your requests for information. If you require any further
information or if we have in some way misinterpreted your requests, please let us
know.
11.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of the
decisions contained in this letter. Information about how to contact the Ombudsman
or make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone
0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
CIAL LEGAL TEAM
Email: [Christchurch International Airport Limited request email]
