Every small town wants to be a big town. Most settle for building a giant fibreglass vegetable to "put them on the map". But some have grander plans. For example Hokitika, a dipshit little town of around 4,000 people, wants to have an international airport, and so is spending millions of dollars extending its runway, on the theory that "if you build it, they will come".
Other, larger towns, have been down this road before, and proven that theory wrong. Invercargill extended its runway on 2005 to take international flights. None came. Palmerston North did the same in the 90's. After a decade or so, the flights stopped, leaving residents to pay for a white elephant airport. Even Hamilton, with its much larger population, is having trouble sustaining international flights. And yet councils keep wasting money in this way, in the belief that if only they build a long-enough concrete penis-substitute, the planes will come and bring them wealth. Its a cargo cult, pure and simple.
