Wellington Airport sits at Rongotai, a narrow suburb wedged between Lyall Bay and Evans Bay in New Zealand's capital. The airport has always been short of space, boxed in by hills and water. Aircraft used the site as early as the 1920s, long before any hard surface existed. The modern airport dates to 1959, when a sealed runway, meaning one paved for heavy aircraft, was finally completed.
It arrived after years of argument over whether a jet airport could be built safely on so little land. Hills rise on both sides, the sea lies at each end, and the space was barely enough. The result is one of the most demanding major airports in the developed world. Wind funnels through Cook Strait, the channel between the two main islands, and blows across the runway.
Turbulence on approach, meaning rough and bumpy air, is famous among pilots and passengers. A distinctive new terminal opened in 1999, and 2010 brought an extension nicknamed the Rock, a copper-clad building shaped like a boulder. A giant Gollum sculpture made by Weta Workshop hangs inside. That studio is based in Wellington itself. Plans to push the runway into the sea for long-haul jets remain undecided.