The boss of Nelson Airport says its new $32 million terminal means it can continue to grow aviation in the region.
The entire redevelopment goes live on Tuesday, but officially opens on Saturday.
Robert Evans says it's state-of-the art, with local timber, and replaces the 45-year-old building.
"It certainly served its time, and we really were needing to build not only to catch up with recent growth in the last few years, but also for the next 20 or 30 years."
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The facility has natural ventilation, solar chimneys, electric car charging stations and recycling initiatives.
"It's quite a striking building from the outside with peaked roofs, and inside all the engineered timber and 16m-high ceilings - quite an extraordinary building," said Evans.
He says all new areas will be open by next Tuesday.
"It's quite an extraordinary design... and it's all glass walls, so we've got views right through to the Abel Tasman National Park."
The building is entirely constructed out of timber from Nelson forests.
The new terminal is 40 percent bigger than the old one, and will be able to handle up to 1.4 million passengers, the expected number passing through in 2035.
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