Australia’s mining slowdown has proved no barrier for Qantas in investing in new regional products, with the airline to replace its premium passenger lounge at Karratha Airport with a bigger facility.
The new regional lounge at Karratha, located in Pilbara region in Western Australia’s north, has been designed to be more than double the size of the current lounge and in a new part of the airport on the upper level.
QantasLink chief executive John Gissing said the new lounge coincided with the recent upgrade of the airport.
“As the only airline to offer a lounge at Karratha Airport, this will be a great boost to both Pilbara region locals as well as the important fly-in fly-out market, offering more room to relax prior to their flight,” Gissing said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Karratha is our largest port in the region so investing in a new lounge is a clear indication of our commitment to Karratha and the Pilbara.”
Karratha Airport completed the upgrade of its airport terminal in September 2015. The airport said at the time the new facility allowed the airport to receive international flights, featured an expanded departures area and space for a premium airline lounge.
The airport was now designed to handle 1.2 million passengers a year.
Qantas has up to nine flights a day between Perth and Karratha, including services operated by its regional wing QantasLink.
