Thousands arrived safely at Nelson Airport’s runway at golden hour on Saturday for a top-flight experience.
Walk the Runway was the third rare opportunity for the community to travel on foot or, for some, small wheels on a 1.5km stretch where up to 60 commercial flights take off and touch down daily.
Apron reconstruction work postponed plans for the event in 2025.
Close to $11,000 was raised for the Nelson Airport Emergency Service team who will climb 51 storeys in the Firefighter Sky Tower Challenge in May, with all proceeds going to Leukaemia and Blood Cancer NZ.
Nelson Airport corporate services head Beth Catley was “absolutely blown away” by how it landed.
“So many people and thank goodness the weather turned it on for us in the end, I think that really helped, and the generosity has been absolutely incredible,” she enthused.
“I think that this is probably the biggest one so far, I think we’ve exceeded the 2000 [participants] that we’ve had previously. I hope they had a really special night, feel like they’ve got to see a little bit of the other side of the airport and maybe learn a little bit more about what we do.”
