Gold Coast runway extension opens door for Asia, Middle East and US
- Friday, 09 February 2007
A Qantas aircraft en route from Japan to Melbourne in June will be the first international flight to touch down on the runway extension.
The flight is being diverted to the Gold Coast to offload a group of 220 Japanese runners who are competing in the ‘Gold Coast Airport Marathon’.
“The Gold Coast airport team has worked long and hard to attract direct international flights to this region — and Japan is one of our key target markets,” said airport managing director, Dennis Chant.
The airport’s new runway — due to be officially opened on May 16 — has been extended from 2042 metres to 2500 metres — enabling direct routes from Japan and other possible destinations, including China, the Middle East, India, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea and, as new technology aircraft become available, the US west coast.
Meanwhile, the Gold Coast airport management team is planning to re-develop the main terminal. If approved, the proposed A$100 million project would double the size of the existing terminal to more than 26,000sqm.
The main terminal incorporates T1 and T2 - and currently houses operations for Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin Blue, Freedom Air and Pacific Blue.
Concept plans are now on display until May 03.
The proposed re-development will cater for forecast passenger movements for the next 20 years.
The airport — formerly known as Coolangatta — made a flying start to 2007, handling a total of 352,554 passengers in January, an all-time monthly high.
