Townsville Airport flags ‘return to international services’ by 2025

International flights by 2025, more gates, and 120 new car parks. See what big changes Townsville Airport is cooking up.

Those paying attention might’ve noticed Townsville Airport has been driving with its foot on the accelerator recently, trying to keep pace with record passenger numbers.

This includes new elevators, an upgraded check-in area and the opening of a temporary overflow car park.

Townsville Airport general manager Brendan Cook confirmed the transport hub is looking to grow in a very big way over the next five years to match a predicted tripling in passenger numbers.

“February was our busiest February ever on record,” Mr Cook said.

“Right now we’re working on a solution to open 120 new parking bays in the short-term, and even more in the long-term.”

Townsville Airport general manager Brendan Cook says the airport is seeing record numbers of passengers coming through. Last month was their busiest February on record. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Right now overflow parking has been opened on Mustang Crt, behind the 30 minutes free parking street.

Mr Cook said future plans include installing lockers in the car parks so people could leave items there, building more gates by expanding the airport to the north, and shifting the hangers.

A temporary overflow car park opened up on Mustang Ct to ease pressure on airport parking during the busy summer months.

“We can’t expand to the south because defence is there, so we’ll be going north,” Mr Cook said.

According to the soon-to-be-approved Townsville Airport Master Plan, the business predicts it will be handling 3.8 million passengers annually by 2043 - a big jump from the 1.5 million currently bustling through the airport.

With around 400 flights each week Townsville Airport Pty Ltd (TAPL) wants to expand, and it's best option is to grow to the north.

Queensland Airports (which runs Townsville Airport) CEO Amelia Evans said $18m had been invested in the NQ airport since 2022 and they were planning for a “return to international services” by 2025.

This includes the return of Bali flights, and maybe even a Singapore connection.

The ultimate 20 year plan. The light blue expansion shows the terminal increase by one airbridge to the south and four to the north. A new pavement area is marked in dark blue.

But making this happen requires airlines to play ball, something which might get easier over the coming years.

Mr Cook said right now there were “not a lot of spare aircraft in Australia” sitting around ready to run new routes.

“But we know there is a number (of planes) entering the market soon, when Qantas gets their A220 Airbuses and Virgin some Boeing 737 Maxs,” he said.

Expansion plans for the parking and taxi areas

It’s predicted the combination of new planes, plus budget airline Bonza disrupting the status-quo, will lead to cheaper and cheaper tickets over the next two to three years.

Recent upgrades/current upgrades

- New energy efficient escalators which stop when no one is standing on them, and restart when they sense you approaching

- New security checks making it easier to be processed (laptops can stay in your bag)

- Overflow car park on Mustang Ct

- New aircons going in

- Check-in has a brand new area built behind the desks so checked luggage can be processed and get on the aeroplanes quicker

- New seven-tonne baggage x-ray machines

- Extra seating added to the food court area

- A new cleaning robot patrols the baggage claim area

Cleaning robot "Kimbo" is a new addition to the team and can be spotted keeping the baggage claim area spotless between plane arrivals.

Potential future upgrades

- Building the passenger terminal out to the north

- More gates, doubling from 10 (four contact/airbridge, six walkable and two remote) to 20 full-contact/airbridge bays

- Moving the NAACEX commerical hanger area north and potential expansion if there is market demand

- Complete relocation of the general aviation (GA) area to the north so it can continue to expand into a complete precinct. GA includes activites like aeromedical (Royal Flying Doctors, QGAir), flight training, freight and more.

- More parking, specifically long-term parking

- Lockers in the car park

- Return of international flights by 2025

- Larger space for baggage handling and baggage reclaimant

Originally published as Townsville Airport flags ‘return to international services’ by 2025