Qantas and Perth Airport have ended a long-running standoff over terminals, a new runway and passenger processing costs with a combined multi-billion dollar deal that will see Qantas move to the eastern side of the airport, a new runway built and expansion of its current T3 terminal to handle more international flights.
The 12-year deal is worth $5 billion and will also include multi-story car parks and hotels.
The announcement, to be made by new Qantas CEO Vanesa Hudson and Perth Airport CEO Jason Waters at 9 am, ends over five years of legal wrangling over a variety of issues that ended up in the WA Supreme Court.
Under the deal, announced to the ASX by Qantas this morning, the airport’s biggest customer will move its operations to the eastern side of the airport to a new terminal complex to be built onto the existing T1.
The move will be completed by 2031 and in the interim Jetstar will move its domestic operations to T2, on the eastern side, by later this year, while its international operations will stay at T1.
Perth Airport has four terminals – T1 and T2 on the eastern side of the airport and T3 and T4 on the western side of the airport. T3 was previously the home of Ansett.
To facilitate the Qantas nonstop Perth-London service in 2018 an agreement was reached that Qantas could operate international flights from T3 instead of the international T1 terminal to streamline connecting times from its domestic feed traffic.
Qantas’s international operations will be expanded with additional space expected to be added to T3 to handle interview rooms for customs and quarantine. This will allow a resumption of the Perth-Johannesburg flights as well as the Perth-Aucklnd flights in mid-2025.
The new parallel runway, to be located on the eastern side of the airport, will go ahead and be completed by late 2028 – virtually future-proofing Perth Airport.
With the new runway, will come an overhaul of flight paths into Perth Airport enabling quieter approaches. The new runway has passed all the environmental hurdles and has virtually no impact on Munday Swamp to the north.
Perth Airport is now at capacity during weekdays at peak periods of early morning, mid-morning, early and late afternoon/evening with a wait list for slots between 5.30 am and 7.30 am.
The airport is on track to handle 16 million passengers for FY2024 with 155K aircraft movements – both records for the airport.
Detailed planning for the new runway and shift of all operations to the eastern side of the airport dates back over 10 years although the vision for a parallel runway goes back many decades.
Delivery of the new runway will enable further growth for the critical resources sector and future-proof aviation in Western Australia.
Comments from Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson
“This is the largest airport infrastructure deal in our history. It will enable us to create a world-class Western hub and significantly expand our domestic and international services over the short, medium and long term.
“Not only will it allow us to bring hundreds of thousands more travellers to and through Western Australia each year, it will also make it easier for overseas tourists to connect to more destinations across Australia.
“Perth-London and Perth-Rome are two of the most popular flights on our international network, which gives us confidence in our strategy to ramp up WA flying over the next few years as we receive new aircraft and grow our fleet.
“The additional flying will see us create an estimated 700 new jobs in Western Australia across pilots, crew, engineering and airport staff.
“With the launch of Perth-Paris in July and Jetstar’s new services into Asia starting later this year, we have a pipeline of growth underway that will mean Perth is on track to become our second biggest international gateway behind Sydney.”
Comments from Perth Airport CEO Jason Waters
“This is a special moment in the history of aviation in Western Australia as this agreement will unlock the future for both Perth Airport and Qantas.
“Qantas has some ambitious growth plans for its operations in Perth and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to push ahead together to realise this potential.
“Western Australians will now see the largest-ever private investment in an infrastructure development in Perth – a once in a lifetime investment program that will completely change the face of Perth Airport over the next decade.
“Perth Airport’s plans will see more than $5 billion invested in delivering new terminal facilities, a new parallel runway, two multi-storey carparks with associated roadworks, and our first airport hotel.
“This will create thousands of construction and on-going jobs, underpin the future growth of the FIFO-based resources sector, generate new tourism and trade opportunities, and deliver enormous ongoing benefits to Western Australia.
“Most importantly, it will deliver one airport for the people of Western Australia which will host all flight services giving them a seamless, world class travel experience.”
Comments from Western Australian Premier Roger Cook
“This commitment cements our place as the Western Gateway to Australia.
“By opening up new flights routes and adding millions of extra passenger seats each year, we’re positioning WA as a major tourist destination in the region.
“It will turn Perth Airport into a world-class travel hub for visitors and for Western Australians, and put Perth onto the world stage for travellers.
“It’s part of our plan to diversify WA’s economy, create long-term jobs and set our State up for the future.” The agreement resolves all outstanding commercial issues in dispute between Perth Airport and Qantas
This (below) is an early concept from the airport’s master plan from 2014.
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