Would the Wgtn runway extension be enough?

Stuff reports:

Wellington Airport is playing down a report showing many wide-bodied aircrafts could not operate efficiently into the capital even with a $300 million extension.

On Friday it emerged that an expert report included in its resource consent application showed that a number of Boeing and Airbus planes which were looked at could not take off safely if full of passengers, even after its runway was extended 355 metres.

Wellington Airport has claimed its plan to extend the runway into Cook Strait could allow direct flights from North America and Asia into the capital.

But a report it commissioned from Astral Aviation Consultants claimed that no aircraft could take off with a full passenger payload to Beijing in wet conditions, while only one aircraft type – the A330-800NEO – could reach Los Angeles Airport full of passengers if taking off from a wet runway.

Here’s the length of various airport runways in NZ:

1. Auckland L 3,635 metres
2. Christchurch 3,288 metres
3. Auckland R 3,108 metres
4. Invercargill 2,210 metres
5. Wellington 2,081 metres

So Wellington with the extension would be longer than Invercargill but still a lot shorter than Christchurch or Auckland.