Article: Canberra Airport to get $350m Upgrade

[Buzz Killington]

Article from:  Australian Associated Press

A THREE-YEAR $350 million makeover of Canberra Airport will make it the best in Australia, its managing director Stephen Byron says.

Launching the start of construction on the airport's new environmentally friendly southern concourse terminal, Mr Byron said the project was back on track after problems linked to the global financial crisis.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac and German financier WestLB have all agreed to provide more than $330 million in credit to fund the project, dubbed AirVolution.

By the middle of next year, Canberra Airport will feature a four-storey carpark with covered access to the terminal and no roads to cross.

Long taxi queues on a wind-swept footpath will also be a thing of the past, thanks to the country's first fully enclosed taxi rank.

By the project's 2012 completion date, travellers would benefit from the installation of international capabilities at the airport, including immigration and customs, more than double the number of check-in counters, triple the baggage capacity and quadruple the airline club lounge areas.

"This new terminal will be the best in Australia and for its size probably the best in the world,'' Mr Byron said in a statement on Tuesday.

The project will generate more than 350 on-site jobs during the construction phase, a further 1,000 off-site employment opportunities for suppliers and 300 jobs related to the ongoing operation of the airport.

"This infrastructure will deliver an economic boost into the future, driving growth in the tourism and transport economies, not only in the Canberra region but throughout Australia,'' Mr Byron said.

[Snorzac]

They showed an animated version of the new terminal on win news, it looks pretty impressive.

[Bus 400]

I have been told by a Canberra Airport worker that a new part of this upgrade is to include a new taxi runway. The new runway will be built so that once planes land, they'll turn towards the airport & head towards the airport.

At the moment, planes turn to the right & head towards the terminal on the tower side of the runway & then have to cross the main runway. This can mean more planes can land at Canberra Airport everyday.

[Sir Pompously]

Taxi Runway? Taxiway.

[Bus 400]

The employee called it a runway. But told me it was for the planes to taxi to the runway. I am unsure what they are called & his job can involve driving across the runways at speed.


But it is to stop planes having to wait for any other aircraft using the main runway.

[Sir Pompously]

Yes it is a Taxiway (A Taxiway is where a plane generally taxis, the runway is where a plane taxis, takes off and lands). The person you are speaking of is a Safety Officer. There are a few of them which work from the hut at Gate 5 near the RPT apron and terminal, nice guys. The taxiway has been under planning for years (Did not know it was approved, though), and yes it is to help aircraft taxiing to the terminal as they will no longer have to cross over 17/35 to get to the terminal, which in peak periods means waiting out a plane or two.