Perth Airport has announced revised plans to spend $500 million over the next three years on terminal developments as it strives to meet traffic growth fuelled by Western Australia’s mining boom.
Key aspects of the plan are an expansion of the existing international terminal with the incorporation of a new shared domestic pier to be used by Virgin Blue from 2013, and a new domestic terminal primarily for intrastate and resource charter flights to be located adjacent to the international terminal.
In May 2008 Perth Airport had announced a more ambitious $1 billion upgrade plan, including a combined international and domestic terminal centred on the existing international terminal, its ‘Terminal WA’ for resource charter and low cost carrier flights, and other improvements to be undertaken over a five to seven year timeframe, but these plans have been reshaped in the wake of the global financial crisis and feedback from airline customers.
“We have been working closely with our airline partners over the past 18 months to agree on the key features of the airport redevelopment. With 23 airlines servicing more than 75 intrastate, interstate and international ports, extensive consultation has been required and we have made good progress,” said Perth Airport CEO Brad Geatches. “The discussions with airlines and the detailed design has proceeded to a point where we decided it was important to release updated information on the major redevelopment we plan to undertake, commencing next year.”
Under the new plan the international terminal (Terminal 1) will be expanded with aircraft gates capable of handling the Airbus A380, and feature an expanded check-in hall with 16 additional check-in counters, expanded immigration and security screening areas, and upgrades to the departures lounge, arrivals hall, and pick-up and drop off areas. Work is expected to begin in late 2011 and be completed in 2013.
The new domestic pier added to the international terminal to be used by Virgin Blue will feature “up to” 12 new aerobridge aircraft gates, a number of which will be widebody capable and be able to “swing” between domestic and international services. Other features will include 14 domestic check-in counters, dedicated domestic passenger screening, a domestic departures lounge with retail outlets, an airline lounge, and two large baggage reclaim belts.
The international terminal improvements and the new domestic pier will cost in the order of $270 million.
Intrastate and resource charter flights will be accommodated by a $120 million new domestic terminal, adjacent to the international terminal, which has replaced the original ‘Terminal WA’ concept. To be “much” larger than the existing domestic terminal, the single story terminal will feature a parking area capable of handling 36 aircraft, 14 (non aerobridge) aircraft gates accessed by covered walkways, a check-in hall with 16 counters, security screening, and three baggage reclaim belts.
The airport says this first stage of development will meet projected demand for the next eight to 10 years, “at which time further consolidation developments will proceed”. That is likely to see further expansion of the international terminal precinct to accommodate Qantas domestic/intrastate operations, which in the meantime will expand into the existing domestic terminal area (Terminal 3) used by Virgin Blue and Skywest.
The airport is also spending $50 million on expanded aircraft aprons, taxiways and parking areas, while in conjunction with the WA state government, planning is already well underway on a major upgrade to the arterial road network around the airport.
Unlike the 2008 plan, the new plan does not include a new multi-storey carpark nor provision for airport hotels.
