Future Gold Coast: Direct US flights will come to Coast within 10 years says Bernard Salt

A direct Gold Coast to the US flight route is set to become a reality. Here’s when you’ll be boarding a Snapper Rocks to Sunset Boulevard flight.

THE Gold Coast will have an international flight route to the US within a decade, says a leading demographer.

Bernard Salt says the city will change dramatically by 2030, as more people move to the region along with the continued strength of the tourism market.

Get ready for direct US flights.

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It comes as an incredible new artist impression by Urbis depicts central Burleigh Heads in 2030.

The vision depicts lush green gardens, pedestrian plazas and the light rail.

But Mr Salt says achieving this will take a significant investment in infrastructure.

“An international airport is key to this and I would expect that within 10 years we will see greater connectivity, certainly into China and Southeast Asia as well as the west coast of the US,” he said.

Annaliese Battista and Bernard Salt at Future Gold Coast lunch Picture: Regina King

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“The Gold Coast’s airport’s facilities and terminal must be beefed up.”

Piling is underway and three new cranes will be on site next month as visible signs of Gold Airport’s new expanded three-level terminal with aerobridges take hold.

The addition, doubling the terminal size, is a major plank of a $500 million airport development to cater for its 6.6 million passengers a year doubling by 2037.

The terminal expansion work adds to an ongoing new $50 million hotel build. An interior refurbishment of the existing terminal making it “more modern and efficient” is planned during the next two years.

Artist impressions of Gold Coast Airport upgrade and under-construction Airport hotel.

But Mr Salt said the Gold Coast needed to do more to diversity in its economy as it grows beyond the mainstays of tourism and development.

“Schools, housing, aged cared and spirituality. These might be businesses to be in,” he said.

“There are going to be some big opportunities.

“A festival of entrepreneurship should be established on the Gold Coast. Own that space and galvanise the energy which has been here for 60 years. You own it.

“Work to create your own future. Start-ups can begin down in Melbourne or Sydney but they should come here to scale up.”

Artist impressions of Gold Coast Airport upgrade and under-construction Airport hotel.

Mr Salt used the example of social media giant Facebook which began at Harvard University on the US east coast before relocating to the booming Silicon Valley as it grew to become one of the world’s largest companies.

During his presentation at this week’s Gold Coast Bulletin’s Future Gold Coast lunch, Mr Salt said the Coast needed to embrace its destiny during the 2020s.

“The first thing to do now is to embrace the face that this city is headed towards one million and that it is shaped like a sausage … we need a north-south railway line or tramway by 2030,” he said.

The airport “must be beefed up”, says Bernard Salt.

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“To deliver fluidity by 2030 we need to nominate and reinforce regional centres most likely at Southport, Surfers Paradise, Robina and Coolangatta … and we need a world’s best practice airport with agribusiness freight capacity.

“The Gold Coast is naturally entrepreneurial, so let’s leverage that by creating an exemplar start-up and scale-up community on the Coast.

“For example business awards for under 30s, festivals of new businesses, start up down south but scale up here.

“We need to carve out as large a slice of the SEQ32 pie as possible, including venues, infrastructure, training, events and pre-bid entertaining.”