On 10 December 1960 South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand commenced a Douglas DC-3 service linking Oamaru north to Timaru and Christchurch and south to Alexandra and Invercargill. Later a stop in Gore was added. These flights ended on 28 February 1966. Later that day Mount Cook Airlines took over also using DC-3 aircraft, serving Timaru and Christchurch.[1]
In October 1968 Mount Cook Airline began using the 52 seater HS-748 aircraft into Oamaru.
A new sealed runway at the Oamaru Airport was passed as fully operational in March 1975.[2]
Regular scheduled services were withdrawn in 1989. In 2005 the Waitaki District Council decided to reseal the main runway.[3]
When scheduled services resumed in 2006 and the first BAe Jetstream 32EP arrived from Christchurch (operated by Air National on behalf of Eagle Airways) a crowd of approximately 500 people were present to view its landing. The aircraft operating the inaugural service was renamed The Spirit of Waitaki in honour of the reintroduction of services to Oamaru.[4] However, regular commercial flights to Oamaru were again withdrawn on 1 January 2010.[5]
The North Otago Aero Club has been operating from the Oamaru Airport since 1956, and operated South Island based charter flights until 2019. Currently they offer flight training towards a Private Pilots License in a Cessna 172N or can do local area based trial flights.
The town has been through a lot of hurdles to gain then lose its air service forcing residents to either travel south to Dunedin or north to Timaru to catch a flight.[6]
