Australia: Perth Airport Terminals Merger Delayed

Source: ABC News    Author:    05/18/2009

Subject Concerned: Airport   

A plan to merge the domestic and international terminals at Australia's Perth Airport has been pushed back due to falling demand.

Last year the owner of the airport, Westralia Airports Corporation, unveiled a plan to merge the terminals by 2015.

But a new Master Plan for the airport has revealed the consolidation will happen in stages, with the first stage brought forward to 2011.

The Chief Executive Officer of Westralia Airports Corporation, Brad Geatches, says the completion date for the merged airports has been pushed back to some time between 2015 and 2020.

"The strength of our plan is that the major investments can either be brought forward or delayed depending on what demand is and certainly we've seen some softening of demand in the last 12 months," he said.

"We could normally expect that our plans will slip by one or two years as a result of that.

"We expect it to happen between 2015 and 2020 depending on what demand says, but it's important to note that the first stage of the consolidation is happening over the next two to three years with the construction of Terminal WA."

Image: Planned departure lounge for new Perth airport terminal [Westralia Airports Corporation].