Ewan Wilson and a new airline aside, there's all sorts of good reasons to make Whenuapai a dual use airport:
-It was once..it could be again
-There is precedent..Blenheim
-There are hundreds of thousands of aucklanders in the west and north shore very poorly served by AIAL
-AIAL has no understanding of aviation and is only interested in car parking and retail and deserves competition
-AIAL was involved in disgraceful conduct during the previous application and were lucky not to be prosecuted
-AIAL constantly lies about expanding to two runways but has no intention of ever doing so
-taxpayers own Whenuapai and at present, it is under-utilised with relatively low movements, taxpayers aren't getting good value for money
-NZAA is very poorly served by public transport
Etc etc