Whakatane Airport
Murray Bevan | April 29th, 2008
As you can see from the photos, Whakatane Airport looks like something out of Teletubbies or that has been built with Lego.
It’s naive and playful exterior is actually the result of Wellington architect Roger Walker and was a masterpiece of its time.
When you arrive on the tarmac, several casually-dresed attendants rush to secure the planes propellors (the airport can’t support jet engine commercial planes) and the luggage is efficiently loaded onto a hand trolley. The trolley is then wheeled to the carpark and everyone grabs their own bag.
Today the airport building provides a glimpse of just how antipodean little New Zealand is, but all the while charming, quirky and a wee bit odd.
