Oamaru Airport (OAM)

Oamaru Airport is a small public airport serving Oamaru and the wider North Otago and Waitaki District on New Zealand's South Island. Located about 20 km north of Oamaru at Hilderthorpe, directly alongside State Highway 1, it acts as a local gateway for general aviation, flight training and charter flights.

The airport has a long regional aviation history. Scheduled passenger services operated at various times from 1960, with South Pacific Airlines and later Mount Cook Airlines and Eagle Airways linking Oamaru to destinations such as Christchurch and Timaru. A sealed main runway was completed in March 1975, and regular commercial flights were withdrawn in 2010, leaving the airport largely focused on private aviation and training.

Today, the facility operates with a modest terminal building and an asphalt main runway, plus grass runways, and is home to the North Otago Aero Club, which has been based there since 1956. Fuel, waiting facilities and basic passenger amenities are available, while dining, shops and lounges are not.

Because the airport sits beside State Highway 1, access by private car, taxi or pre-arranged transfer is straightforward. Most travellers heading to or from Oamaru by scheduled air service use Dunedin or Timaru airports, but Oamaru Airport remains a convenient entry point for private flights into the Waitaki Valley, Moeraki and the North Otago coast.