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Wellington airport clears runway for cystic fibrosis fundraiser

In a rare move the airport briefly stopped flights for the fundraiser.

In a rare move, Wellington Airport briefly cleared the runway for airport workers to complete their final steps of a walking fundraiser for a genetic disease.

The workers raised $5000 for Cystic Fibrosis Wellington by collectively walking over 14 million steps throughout March.

One of the airport workers, Fili Liua’ana, said it’s very rare for people to be on the runway.

"It's not very often we get out here on the runway so it's a real buzz actually, to do it for a charity is absolutely fantastic, you know cystic fibrosis has been around for a long time and it effects a lot of people in New Zealand and around the world, so to do anything for a charity like that, it’s awesome," Liua’ana said.

There is currently no cure for cystic fibrosis, which affects over 500 New Zealanders.

The genetic disease comes with a wide range of symptoms such as reduced lung function, chronic infections and malnutrition.

Michele Wilson from Cystic Fibrosis Wellington said she’s very grateful for the donation.

“In a year like this Covid year we’ve had it will make a huge difference,” Wilson said.

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