Gold Coast Airport can become a tourist attraction in its own right, says chief

Gold Coast Airport is no longer content to be just a gateway to the tourism hotspot and its boss has plans for it to become an international attraction in its own right.

Queensland Airports chief executive Amelia Evans.

The new chief of Gold Coast Airport has revealed her ambitions to turn the precinct into a tourist attraction for the region similar to Singapore’s Changi Airport and Munich in Germany.

With a $500m expansion almost complete, the airport is emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic with a sophisticated new look befitting its status as Australia’s fifth biggest airport.

The airport now sports three levels instead of one, an on-site hotel and four airbridges to carry passengers to their flight and Queensland Airports chief executive Amelia Evans said Gold Coast was well positioned for growth.

“In 2020 we had a business that was closed for 45 days and it was a difficult decision to proceed (with the expansion),” Ms Evans said.

Queensland Airports chief executive Amelia Evans is enthusiastic about the growth potential.

“What we have seen now with the demand coming back, it’s absolutely reinforced that decision and we’re very well positioned to facilitate that recovery and growth as it comes.

“Otherwise we would’ve been on the back foot in the next few years.”

Already, domestic passenger traffic is back to pre-pandemic levels and half a million people passed through the terminal in April.

International travel is proving somewhat slower as airlines take their time to restore pre-pandemic capacity, partly due to ongoing restrictions overseas and staff shortages.

“It’s been more challenging than I think the industry itself would like,” Ms Evans said.

“All we can do is try to sell the destination, tell them how great our region is and ensure we have a terminal expansion facility that enables the growth.”

Gold Coast Airport now has the equivalent of two football fields of additional floor area. Picture: Glenn Hampson

The terminal has the equivalent of two football fields of additional floor area, or 30,000sqm. As a result, Gold Coast Airport would be able to accommodate up to 10 million passengers a year by 2032, up from 6.5 million pre-pandemic.

Ms Evans envisioned that it would not only be travellers heading to the airport in the years ahead and that the sprawling site at Coolangatta had huge potential for further development.

“That is an absolute aspiration for us, and that’s why we call ourselves an airport precinct,” she said.

“We have Southern Cross University, we have Gold Coast Rydges hotel on our site, and part of the strategy is to create a sense of place … to allow local communities to come and enjoy our facilities, our offerings and be part of what we call the precinct.”

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Similar strategies have been used at Changi Airport with its dazzling Jewel shopping and leisure park, Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport which has two of the city’s biggest museums plus a library, and Munich where an Audi motor showroom is a major drawcard, along with an alfresco beer garden between terminals.

Given the Gold Coast’s association with its famous surf beaches and major theme parks, Ms Evans said a water park was not out of the question.

“Water parks have been talked about in other airports. We will continue to look at that as part of our broader property strategy,” she said.

The airport expansion was expected to officially open in late August or September and 18 new food, beverage and retail outlets are set to operate from the middle of next year.