Ngati Kahu's two-day occupation of Kaitaia Airport has ended with five protesters being arrested.

Northland police served trespass orders to the activists about 2pm on Wednesday.

About 15 demonstrators were on airport grounds at that time and many of them chose to leave, police said.

Diane Stoppard Far North District Council mayor John Carter said he was pleased with the occupation's resolution.

Five of the protesters, one woman and four men, remained behind and were arrested for trespass. They will appear in the Kaitaia District Court on Wednesday, September 17.

Far North Area Commander Inspector Wendy Robilliard said the time had come for police to take action. Police had earlier tried to negotiate with the occupiers to resolve the situation.

Robilliard said everyone had the lawful right to protest, but this group had chosen to act unlawfully, which meant police needed to step in.

Supplied Professor Margaret Mutu says the demonstrators felt they had got their message across.

"Kaitaia Airport provides an essential service for the community and we had to consider the safety and wellbeing of Kaitaia residents, particularly as medical staff and supplies needed to get into the community on flights coming into the airport," she said.

The incident was resolved without injury to anyone or damage to property but the protesters are vowing to continue the fight.

One organiser John Popata told TV3 News the group was "pissed off" at Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Chris Finlayson for not visiting them for discussions. "We will fight for ever and ever."

Marty Melville Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson said the airport occupiers were "a few miscreants" who did not represent Ngāti Kahu.

Far North District Council Mayor John Carter said he was pleased with the outcome.

"It's a good outcome. It means we can resume our services."

He said the first flight into the airport would occur later on Wednesday or on Thursday morning, and would bring medical specialists for Kaitaia Hospital.

GETTY IMAGES Northland MP Winston Peters was glad the airport was open again.

Ngati Kahu chief negotiator Professor Margaret Mutu said the occupiers felt they had gotten their message across. The demonstrators were "very happy" with Northland MP Winston Peters' comments in Parliament on Wednesday, she said.

They had dismantled the structures they had built on the site.

Peters said the Far North would be pleased the occupation of Kaitaia airport was over.

Although he did not approve of the occupation, he said Ngati Kahu should have benefited from a Wellington High Court decision in August asking the Waitangi Tribunal to reconsider in their case.

He said Finlayson had "totally ignored" the court's decision.

The calling off of the protest demonstrated that "all Ngati Kahu was seeking was a fair hearing, as their comments on the parliamentary debate this morning indicate," Peters said.

Speaking from Port Moresby, where he is attending a Pacific Islands Forum meeting, Prime Minister John Key said he was "not very impressed" with the demonstration.

"There's a legitimate way to resolve those issues. That's through the treaty settlement process," he said.

He did not think protesters should have occupied a public facility.

Flights to and from the airport, including one carrying five medical specialists for Kaitaia Hospital, had been cancelled after the protest group set up camp on the land.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Treaty Negotiation Minister Finlayson slammed the "oafish behaviour" of Ngati Kahu iwi members who had occupied the airport.

He labelled them "a few miscreants" who did not represent Ngati Kahu.

He said they had no right to interfere with members of the local community carrying out their lawful activities.

But Ngati Kahu's Mutu said the activists had the full backing of the wider Ngati Kahu iwi . She said Finlayson's comments were "totally unproductive".

Most of the occupiers were members of the Patukoraha and Ngai Tohianga hapu repossessing land that was taken from them by the Government in the 1940s, she said.

"They just want Finlayson to say, 'Yes, we know it's Ngati Kahu land'," she said.

The activists arrived at 11am on Tuesday and set up a makeshift camp around the airport. They said they would only leave if the government acknowledged the airport was theirs.

A press release published by the group said the government took the land from Kataraina Matenga, of the Patukoraha hapu of Ngati Kahu, in the early 1940s as part of its World War II effort. The government promised to return the land at the end of the war.

However 70 years later the land had not been returned, and the government was offering half of the land's ownership to neighbouring iwi NgaiTakoto.

"The government decision to sell the stolen properties has resulted in Patukoraha and Ngai Tohianga taking the only recourse available to them which is, repossessing their lands," the occupation group said.

Finlayson said the airport had been offered to NgaiTakoto and Ngati Kahu in 50/50 shares, conditional on the land remaining an airport. It was a deferred selection property, meaning the right to purchase became active in three years.

If Ngati Kahu had not concluded a Treaty of Waitangi claim by 2018, then NgaiTakoto would have sole right to buy the property, Finlayson said.

"The Crown had to balance the interests of both iwi while ensuring certainty about the future of the airport."

A settlement bill for four Muriwhenua iwi - Ngati Kuri, Te Aupouri, NgaiTakoto and Te Rarawa - but excluding Ngati Kahu passed its final reading in Parliament on Wednesday and will be enacted into law.

Mutu said Ngati Kahu was not part of the settlement because the Crown offered nothing to many of the iwi's hapu.