Hood Aerodrome

Hood Aerodrome (IATA: MRO, ICAO: NZMS) is an aerodrome, located in Masterton, New Zealand, it is located 1 NM South West of the town centre in the suburb of Solway. The aerodrome was named after George Hood, a pioneer Masterton aviator who died trying to make the first Trans-Tasman crossing in 1928.[1] The aerodrome is used extensively for general aviation flights, and has also been used for commercial flights, Air New Zealand stopped serving the airport from 5 February 2014. Two new airlines have looked at re-instating a service to Auckland using larger aircraft but the runway will need to be lengthened to 1400m and widened to 30m first before it can start.[2]

Hood Aerodrome
Summary
Airport typeGeneral aviation
OwnerMasterton District Council
OperatorMasterton District Council
ServesMasterton, Carterton, Martinborough
LocationMasterton, New Zealand
Elevation AMSL111 m / 364 ft
Coordinates40°58′30″S 175°38′00″E
Websitehttp://hoodaerodrome.org.nz/
Map
MRO is located in North Island
MRO
MRO
Location of airport in North Island
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06C/24C 1,250 4,101 Asphalt
06R/24L 1,060 3,478 Grass
06L/24R 450 1,476 Grass
10/28 1,042 3,419 Grass

History

The Masterton Aerodrome was opened in 1931. Historically, Hood Aerodrome has been served by South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand in 1962–1966 and two locally based carriers, Wairarapa Airlines which linked Masterton with Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Nelson and Christchurch from August 1981 to January 1997.[3] Then a new airline Air Wairarapa briefly flew to Auckland via Paraparumu in 2002.[4] Between February 2009 and February 2014, Eagle Airways, a subsidiary of Air New Zealand Link flew to Auckland from Masterton. The flights were operated by 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D aircraft. In September 2013, Air New Zealand announced the airline would withdraw all services to Masterton from 5 February 2014, due to a lack of demand.[5] The airport is working on a plan to reinstate an air service to Auckland with an invitation to the airlines underway.[6]

Grass runway 06L/24R closed in November 2019 following an independent review of operations at the aerodrome.[7]

Work to extend and widen the main runway is in the planning stage. The budget set for this project is $17 million.[8]

Other Uses

The aerodrome is the home of New Zealand's 'Sports and Vintage Aviation Society', which has had a hangar on site since 1978.

Since 1999 Hood Aerodrome has held a biennial airshow, "Wings over Wairarapa". The eleventh such event took place on 26–27 February 2021,[9] the final scheduled display on 28 February being cancelled due to a change in New Zealand's COVID-19 alert level.

The aerodrome land also hosts a purpose built dragstrip.

See also

References
  1. Bowling, Kerri (16 August 2003). "Aviator's family plot restored". Wairarapa Times-Age. Archived from the original on 21 October 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  2. Walt Dickson (30 October 2013). "Masterton Runway Extension Needed". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  3. L, Steve (7 November 2010). "3rd Level New Zealand: Wairarapa Airlines Revisited".
  4. Airline has no illusions – Wairarapa Times-Age
  5. "Air NZ pulling out of Wairarapa". Wairarapa Times Age. 4 September 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  6. "Moves afoot to revive hood". Wairarapa Times. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  7. "Council closes grass runway at Hood aerodrome". RNZ. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  8. "Aerodrome Masterplan". Wairarapa Times. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  9. https://www.wings.org.nz/, accessed December 2020.
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