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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Civil Aviation Act 2023

Airports - Airport operators

235: Airport bylaws

You could also call this:

"Rules for airports: what you can and can't do at an airport"

An airport operator can make rules, called bylaws, for the airport they run. You might wonder what these rules are for. They can be about managing the airport, carrying out the operator's jobs, or protecting property.

The rules can also be about keeping people and property safe from accidents. They might say how traffic and parking work at the airport, but not on public roads as defined in section 2(1) of the Land Transport Act 1998. The operator can decide when the public can enter the airport and under what conditions.

The airport operator can make rules about lost property too. If you lose something at the airport, the operator can sell it if you do not claim it after three months. They must tell the public about the sale in a fair way.

The operator can make different rules for different people or situations at the airport. These rules are not invalid just because they give the operator some discretion. The rules made by the airport operator are considered secondary legislation under the Legislation Act 2019, and some parts of the Local Government Act 2002 apply to them.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS352501.

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Part 7Airports
Airport operators

235Airport bylaws

  1. An airport operator may, in respect of the airport that it operates, make bylaws for all or any of the following purposes:

  2. the good rule and management of the airport:
    1. more effectively carrying out functions and powers of the airport operator in respect of the airport:
      1. protecting property used in connection with the airport from damage or injury:
        1. prescribing precautions to be taken to protect people or property from accidents or damage:
          1. regulating (other than on a road as defined in section 2(1) of the Land Transport Act 1998)—
            1. traffic, whether pedestrian or vehicular; and
              1. the provision and use of parking places for vehicles at the aerodrome:
              2. prescribing the times, terms, and conditions on which the public may enter or be in the airport:
                1. providing for facilities to be established and maintained at the airport to receive and store lost property.

                  1. Bylaws under subsection (1)(g) may provide for—

                  2. lost property to be sold by auction if it is unclaimed after being held by the airport operator for at least 3 months:
                    1. publicising, in what the operator considers to be a fair and reasonable manner, the proposed sale of lost property:
                      1. despite paragraphs (a) and (b), disposing of perishable or valueless lost property in any manner determined by the operator.

                        1. Bylaws made under subsection (1) may—

                        2. provide differently for different types of persons, vehicles, roads or other places within the airport, aviation participants, or aviation-related services or on any other differential basis; or
                          1. provide differently for the same class of person, vehicle, road or other place within the airport, aviation participant, or aviation-related service or any other thing in different circumstances.

                            1. Bylaws made under subsection (1) are not invalid merely because they confer any discretion on, or allow any matter to be determined or approved by, the airport operator or any other person or allow the airport operator or any other person to impose requirements as to the performance of any activities.

                            2. Bylaws made under this section by an airport operator are secondary legislation for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2019, but section 161A of the Local Government Act 2002 applies to them as if they were made by a local authority.

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