When Cairns Airport’s $50m international terminal upgrade will be complete
Cairns Airport has revealed details about its $50m refurbishment, and when it expects the works to be complete. Find out what’s in store.
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Cairns Airport has revealed further details about an upgrade that will cost up to $50m to refurbish the international terminal.
Cairns Airport chief executive Richard Barker said the upgrade would begin in 2023 and would take about three years at a cost of between $40m to $50m.
“So work is already under way, detailed planning, we’ve already ordered four new air bridges which have a long lead time,” he said.
“But the first physical stuff that passengers will already start to see will be transformation of the arrivals and departures areas in early 2023.”
Mr Barker said there would be a number of key changes involved in the upgrade but he was confident the airport only needed one runway.
“The visuals obviously in the international airport will change quite significantly so the famous blue carpet might get a makeover,” he said.
“Importantly from a passenger perspective what we are also looking to do is reconfigure baggage reclaim which is a congestion point.
“To enable the growth that we are expecting in the years ahead will be fundamentally reorientating and expanding baggage reclaim facilities which will improve the customer journey and banked processes at times.”
Mr Barker said the money being invested was similar to the amount previously spent on the domestic terminal before the Covid pandemic.
“It’s important for us to do the long-term planning first to understand what the capacity we will need for the next 15-20 years, because these are long term projects,” he said.
“We consciously made a decision about whether or not we refurbish the existing international terminal or develop a new integrated terminal and it was actually more efficient both from a cost and environmental perspective to refurbish the existing international terminal”
As a separate initiative Mr Barker said there would be a new medical precinct for providers like the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
“As a key gateway, as Cairns our medical facilities and support is a big industry in this town and we play a vital role in servicing particularly remote communities in the Cape,” he said.
“Those organisations are looking to grow and secure their future, so what we are looking to do is develop purpose built facilities from them and they would likely be on the eastern side of the runway in an entirely new precinct,” he said.
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Originally published as When Cairns Airport’s $50m international terminal upgrade will be complete
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