Pukaki Airfield owes its existence to the vision of aviator Sir Harry Wigley.

A former RNZAF pilot who served in the Pacific, Harry Wigley was the son of Rudolph Wigley who had pioneered motor vehicle access to the Hermitage at Mt Cook.

He had flown a large number of light aircraft in the Mackenzie Basin and often used them to go on fishing and hunting trips in the solitude and sunshine.

It is fitting that the newly developed Pukaki Airfield should bear his name for its main street, and the names of some of his aircraft types for the side streets.

In the early 1950s he experimented with fitting retractable skis to his Auster aircraft, and carried out the first snow landing on 22 September 1955.  Further flights were made the same day carrying a number of passengers including Sir Edmund Hillary.

This aircraft is now on display at the Sir Edmund Hillary Centre at Mt Cook.

Sir Harry, who was later knighted for his efforts, foresaw the need for a commercial air link into the Mackenzie and Mt Cook, and obtained a licence to run a scheduled service from Christchurch to Mount Cook and Queenstown.  He considered the most appropriate aircraft was the venerable DC3, and purchased a DC3 from National Airways Corporation (NAC).

While there were many airfields available for light aircraft, none existed on the route for the DC3, or they had obstructions.  With all his experience of flying in the area, he realised an alternate airstrip was needed in the Mackenzie in addition to the airstrip he had constructed at Mt Cook.

The first was a grass strip near Glencairn Station on the south side of the Ohau River (the Ohau C power canal is understood to pass through this strip’s position now), and later a new strip was laid out on Ben Ohau Station.  It is this strip which forms the basis of Pukaki Airport.

Legend has it that Sir Harry arrived at the site with runholder Mr Jack Cameron, and having ascertained a desirable location and direction, put a stake in the ground and then drove in his Chev Bel Air for one mile and put another stake in at that point.

While initially a grass strip, the runway was later sealed and some very basic facilities established.  Mount Cook Airlines had exclusive use of the site and this aspect brought the Mackenzie District Council into the picture in the late 1980s.

Mount Cook Airlines allowed other aircraft to land and take off at Pukaki, provided they had obtained permission.  It had also allowed the Upper Waitaki Aeroclub to establish on a section of the site during the Upper Waitaki power development years.

When changes to aviation tourism started in the late 1980s, the Twizel Community Board pressured the District Council to see if it could open up the airfield to other users.  A report was commissioned from a Captain Smith (The Smith Report) which concluded that if there was to be a public airfield, it should be at Pukaki.

This did not sway the airline, but one action changed everything - Lands and Survey offered up the land under the runway for sale.  Mt Cook Airlines jibbed at the price, but the Council swiftly stepped in and negotiated the purchase, much to the distress of Mt Cook Airlines. 

It demanded the Council on-sell the strip, but the Council held its ground and awaited the airline’s lease to run its course.

The DC3s had long departed the scene, replaced by Hawker Siddley 748s, and the Upper Waitaki Aero Club decamped to Omarama taking their hangar with them.

In the 1990s, an application to fly helicopters from Ferintosh on the Mt Cook Road put pressure on the Council to have a look at aviation in the Basin.  An alternative airfield to the Mt Cook strip had resulted in a new runway at Glentanner being developed by a competitor to Mt Cook Airlines, but other airstrips were still in private or company hands.

Unauthorised helicopter landings were taking place throughout the Mackenzie and this prompted the Council to get the industry together and develop an aviation strategy for the Mackenzie Basin.

The strategy focused on Pukaki Airfield becoming an “open” public airfield, and identified a number of “sub level” helicopter sites, some of which were utilised  immediately, while others had very limited use.

The next chapter started when tenure review enabled Ben Ohau Station to offer the land around the Pukaki Airfield for sale.  For the Council, it was the opportunity to put its strategy into action, for owning an airstrip was one thing, but without any land for hangars and facilities, it would have been impossible to turn an airstrip into an airport.

By this stage, Mt Cook Airlines had been brought back into Air New Zealand and this company was no longer interested in the site.

In 2003 the Council concluded the purchase of 220 hectares of land, and established a company (Mackenzie Holdings Ltd) to develop the airfield.  The purchase had cost the Council $480,000.

Rick Ramsay, 8 August 2009

Mackenzie District Council 2006