Work Starts on Perth Airport Upgrade as Passengers Reach Nine Million

[Bob C]

The Media Release :

" Sunday 13th July 2008

The very first stages of Perth Airport’s $1 billion redevelopment have commenced with work starting on the aircraft parking apron which will service the new intra-state terminal, Terminal WA. The apron will have an area of 26 hectares – the equivalent of 10 Subiaco Ovals - and be capable of holding up to 36 aircraft for regional and interstate flights.

Perth Airport CEO Brad Geatches said these initial works are a critical first step in the development of the new Perth Airport, which will see the phased consolidation of all major airline operations into new facilities in the area around the existing international terminal.

“We want to build Terminal WA, including the new apron, as quickly as possible to provide much needed additional capacity for domestic air services in Perth”, Mr Geatches said.

The new aircraft apron will cost around $20 million and will be ready for use within 12 months.

The occasion was marked with a ceremonial sod turning by WA Premier Alan Carpenter.

Perth Airport has also commenced discussions with airlines on the future functionality and commercial arrangements which will underpin Terminal WA, which will be developed as a separate project from the apron. As soon as these negotiations are completed Perth Airport will release a Major Development Plan for public comment, as required under Commonwealth law. Final approval rests with Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon. Anthony Albanese MP.

“Terminal WA will play a vital role in expanding Perth Airport’s capacity over the next few years. It reflects our commitment to regional Western Australia and the importance of fly-in fly-out operations to resources projects in remote parts of the State”, Mr Geatches said.

Other key elements of the new Perth Airport, including domestic and international terminals, airport hotel and multi-storey car park, would continue to be delivered over the next five to seven years.

This commitment to new airport infrastructure comes as Perth Airport handled a record 9 million passengers in the 2007-08 financial year. The total of 9.16 million passengers in 2007-08 represents an increase of 13.3 per cent on the 2006-07 figure of 8.1 million passengers. Domestic passengers were up by 13.4 per cent to 6.65 million, and international passengers were up by 13.0 per cent to 2.51 million.

“Perth Airport’s growth continues to break new ground. Passenger traffic has more than doubled since 2001-02, while airfield movements associated with the resources sector have doubled since 2005. We fully expect that Perth Airport will continue to deliver strong growth for the foreseeable future”, Mr Geatches said.

Perth Airport’s confidence in future growth was given a strong endorsement only two days ago with Jetstar’s announcement of new daily services between Perth and Singapore, commencing this November.

Mr Geatches took the opportunity to acknowledge the role of the Western Australian Government in planning for the new Perth Airport.

“Perth Airport is working closely with the Western Australian Government on a range of vital planning issues, including airport road and public transport links. We are pleased with the level of engagement we have with the State and especially appreciate the Premier’s interest in airport issues.”

[Nic P]

I've had a quick search but can't find any news of this:

Garuda to go three flights daily between Perth and Denpasar, Bali.

I believe they ramp up to two daily some time around September then third daily later in the year. This is in addition to three weekly flights direct to Jakarta.

On top of JQ 3 weekly flights to each of Jakarta and Bali, this is certainly a large increase in capacity!

PER really is growing quickly.


No. From To Departure
Time Arrival
Time Flight Number Number of Stop(s)
1 Perth Denpasar 08:15 11:00 GA 727 0
2 Perth Denpasar 15:25 18:10 GA 725 0
3 Perth Denpasar 18:15 21:00 GA 729 0

[Rhys Xanthis]

Probably find that 1 of those flights will be operate for peak times only (holidays).

Their is indeed a large amount of capacity for Indonesia from Perth now. Also IndoJet as well.

[Carsten Bauer]

Originally Posted by Nic P

I've had a quick search but can't find any news of this:

Is this what you were referring to?
http://www.perthairport.com/default.aspx?MenuID=109

[Nic P]

No I was referring to an announcement by garuda concerning their tripling of services

[Carsten Bauer]

Oh ok.. sorry

[Justin L]

Only 25 gates now initially for the Perth airport expansion, with the remaining 20 gates from the 45 outlined in May to come in future developments. Terminal WA will also have some interstate flights. Perhaps Skywest's PER-KGI-MEL?

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-23349,00.html

Gates cut in first stage of Perth revamp
Geoffrey Thomas | August 01, 2008

PERTH Airport's ambitious $1billion redevelopment has collided with harsh reality, forcing management to deliver just over half the passenger gates originally envisaged for the first stage.

Airport chief executive Brad Geatches revealed this week that the redevelopment would only deliver 25 gates instead of the 45 touted in a "vision document" released in May.

Mr Geatches told The Australian the additional 20 bays that were shown in the original documents would be part of a further re-development.

Congestion and inadequate infrastructure at Perth Airport have produced a storm of criticism from West Australians angry about overcrowding and delays.

Airport operator Westralia Airports Corporation, owned in turn by a group of infrastructure funds, released a vision document on May 1 that highlighted a 45-gate joint international-domestic terminal and a separate 36-bay regional terminal, Terminal WA, with a price tag of about $1 billion.

While the precise final cost of delivering the airport redevelopment was still to be determined, Mr Geatches said that more detailed planning had made it apparent an initial 25 gates would be delivered under the $1 billion figure announced in May.

An additional 20 bays would be added in future stages of the redevelopment to meet expected passenger demand of about 20 million passengers by 2028, he said.

Singapore Airport recently completed its 380,000sqm Terminal 3 with 28 aerobridges at a cost of $S1.75 billion ($1.34 billion), with labour costs at least 30 per cent less than for Australia.

The redevelopment of Perth Airport involves moving the domestic terminals to the eastern side of the airport at the site of what will be a much expanded and modified international terminal.

However, phase one, which started this week and will be completed over two years, will be a new and separate terminal, Terminal WA, dedicated to the major market of internal West Australian air services, plus some interstate flights.

Phases two and three will see new international and domestic terminal facilities based around the existing international terminal within five to seven years.

The initial phase one work will take place over 12 months and involves building a $20 million apron covering 26 hectares for 36 aircraft.

Mr Geatches said these initial works were the first step in the phased consolidation of all major airline operations into new facilities in the area around the existing international terminal.

"We want to build Terminal WA, including the new apron, as quickly as possible to provide much-needed additional capacity for domestic air services in Perth," he said.

Perth Airport has started discussions with airlines on the future functionality and commercial arrangements that will underpin Terminal WA, which will be developed as a separate project from the apron.

The redevelopment is being fast-tracked to cater for WA's booming economy, which has seen a record 9 million passengers use Perth Airport in the 2007-08 financial year.

The total of 9.16 million passengers in 2007-08 represents an increase of 13.3 per cent on the 2006-07 figure of 8.1 million passengers.

"Passenger traffic has more than doubled since 2001-02, while airfield movements associated with the resources sector have doubled since 2005," Mr Geatches said.

"Over the past five years, domestic passenger movements at Perth Airport have increased by more than 85 per cent and in 2007 Perth Airport achieved its passenger traffic forecasts for 2016. This rate of growth is unprecedented for large airports in Australia. This growth is set to continue with low-fare carriers Jetstar and Tiger now making an impression on the West Australian market."

Regional services, mostly covering the resource industry fly-in fly-out market, are booming.

"Regional services are our fastest-growing market segment in terms of aircraft movements. In 2005-06 the volume of regional traffic increased by 42 per cent, and increased by a further 48 per cent in 2006-07," Mr Geatches said.

Perth Airport is working closely with the West Australian Government on a range of planning issues, including airport road and public transport links, which are expected to include a rail link.

"The road network around Perth Airport is under serious pressure from general suburban traffic, reflecting Perth's population growth in recent years," Mr Geatches said.

In the interim, the airport is building a public access road to shorten the 11km haul between the domestic terminal on the western side and the international terminal on the eastern side.

That work is expected to be completed within 18 months.

Mr Geatches said concept designs were still being developed for the new domestic and international terminal facilities but it was likely that these would see major redevelopment of the existing international terminal and the construction of new terminal space

"It is possible that the existing international terminal building structure could form the basis of new domestic terminal facilities," he said.

Mr Geatches promises the redevelopment will bring "new airport technology, better baggage handling facilities and more space".

[Max C]

Originally Posted by Justin Lazaroff

Only 25 gates now initially for the Perth airport expansion, with the remaining 20 gates from the 45 outlined in May to come in future developments. Terminal WA will also have some interstate flights. Perhaps Skywest's PER-KGI-MEL?

Don't count on it!
Skywest suspends Kalgoorlie to Melbourne services
http://www.skywest.com.au/home.asp?documentid=399

[Rhys Xanthis]

Well one could guess the Skywest one coming...They were never really going to go to well on that route from Perth, and i could guess that not that much demand for a direct flight to Melbourne from kalgoorlie...

[Montague S]

now the rot starts appearing...why on earth don't these management imbeciles do the job properly one time so we don't have to do it again? I swear I could run this business better than any of these tree-swingers.

PERTH is likely to get a minimum standard airport that falls short of promises it would be one of the best in the Asia Pacific. But it could still cost twice as much as originally estimated.

Perth Airport chief executive Brad Geatches yesterday conceded Perth would get a "class C" airport, a standard expected to fall short of world-class.

A class C airport is rated by the International Air Transport Association as "minimum standard" according to Richard de Neufville, professor of Systems Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It is defined as having a good level of service and "acceptable" delays. The latest admission comes after The Australian revealed last week that Perth Airport's grand vision of a $1 billion, 45-aerobridge international and domestic redevelopment would be scaled back to just a 25-gate terminal plus the 32 remote stand regional Terminal WA.

The class C airport is in stark contrast to Perth Airport's May 1 media release claiming that the phased redevelopment would "transform Perth Airport into one of the best airports in the Asia Pacific region".

Limiting the airport to 25 gates with aerobridges is likely to mean that international and domestic passengers at peak times will have to run the gauntlet of Perth's wild winter weather or endure searing summer temperatures.

Mr Geatches said an additional 20 bays shown in the original May briefing documents would now be part of a further re-development.

The Perth Airport redevelopment vision was released just four weeks after WA Premier Alan Carpenter described Perth's domestic airport as an embarrassment to the state and called for an immediate upgrade.

He said he did not want to stand in queues with people "who are embarrassed if they are West Australians or very, very unhappy if they are visitors coming to WA and seeing Perth Airport and thinking that somehow or other that reflects upon the state broadly".

At the time, Mr Geatches said that Perth Airport was on the job and there was no lack of commitment or preparedness to invest.

Mr Carpenter kept up the pressure yesterday, telling The Australian he expected the redevelopment of Perth Airport to result in "a highly efficient and modern facility that overcomes the current delays and problems".

The downgraded airport growth projections come as some question whether airports -- critical to a country's economic infrastructure -- should be in private hands.

According to one Singapore-based airport consultant, recent airport redevelopment cost blowouts at Doha and Bahrain raised questions about shareholders' interests versus the country's economic interests.

"Quite simply, they are far too important for economic development to be in the hands of private enterprise," he said.

Recent overseas experience suggests that the cost of building airport terminals is climbing significantly to meet passenger demands. Singapore Airport recently completed its 380,000sqm T3 with 28 aerobridges at a cost of $S1.75 billion ($1.34 billion), with labour costs at least 30 per cent less than Australia's.

Heathrow's T5, which can handle 30 million passengers, cost $9 billion and the T3 complex at Dubai, to be opened in October, cost $4.50 billion, although that included a major cargo terminal.

But labour costs in Dubai are 70 per cent less than those in Perth.

The redevelopment of Perth Airport involves the relocation of the domestic terminals to the eastern side of the airport at the site of what will be an significantly expanded and modified international terminal.