New CBR terminal from Sunday morning

[Voyages]

Some pics I took a couple of weeks ago, early in the morning. Pretty good breakfast options!

 

[schomers87]

Quite the horrible experience on wednesday afternoon. Due to it being my last time up in Canberra- I had to take back to ADL quite a few documents- thus, had to check in luggage where normally i will always OLCI

I couldn't believe they only had 4 check in staff at 530pm on a Wednesday. Somehow the Y line was faster than the premium line. I think I was there for over 20 minutes waiting.

Airport was packed with people coming back after the last few days of the year where the public service is still at full steam.

I thought it was pretty poor. There also seems to be teething problems checking baggage in given how long it was taking for PAX to check in.

Most importantly it reduced my time in the CL!

 

[Justinf]

What's the Virgin Lounge like at CBR?
I'll have my first experience on New Year's Eve.

 

[rtyuiop]

The Lounge in CBR is quite nice, from my one experience - nicer than any of the domestic QPs I've seen if only because it was less crowded. I was in the old one (even though the new terminal was open), so I don't know if they've moved or not.

Danny

 

[justin23]

Does anyone know the timetable for the teardown of the old part of the terminal (QF end?) I assume that is going to be the new home of Virgin Blue and Tiger and isnt due for a couple of years?

Actually end of 2011 the new terminal should be completed (more likely early 2012 IMO). The tear down I imagine will be happening soon and probably the old qantas part is being pulled down now, to make way for the new terminal.
The other multistorey carpark should have also started, although can't remember whether it has.

Also the new terminal is meant to be multiuser, like Adelaide and will have international gates in anticipation of 3-4 flights a week to NZ and maybe a couple to Singapore.

 

[Boris spatsky]

First CBR new J lounge experience yesterday. I like the decor etc.

They had a table setup like STD F lounge with cutlery etc - is there table service and a menu? No one seemed to know! Lots of staff on, all looked bored, 3 standing in front of TV chatting.

Wifi is absolutely hopeless. Could only pick it up in 2 areas - then could not get the QF hotspur logo to load at all so could not get on the net. Asked girl at front desk, she told me to use their computers, I said I needed to check my own email on my computer, she said 'yeah use our computers'. I gave up. Not happy Jan.

Seems nice overall, few teething probs methinks.

 

[serfty]

Had a Lunchtime visit to the J lounge yesterday.

Hot food on offer was 'Tofu with onion and soy' "jam" along with "Tarragon Chicken" casserole - self service.

Both were individual in flavour - I was looking for rice to go with either, but it appeared the Tofu was the Chicken accompaniment. Cheeses/pastries were of a higher standard than I had experienced in past months.

The wifi took about 90 seconds to connect but once in it was fine.

 

[serfty]

I noted last night a design flaw - in the evenings at the moment the sun shine brightly though the large windows into most of the lounge as it descends.

(Scrambled eggs, sautéed spinach and mushroom, baked bean/bacon/tomoto compote and <vegetarian:insert name here - couscous?> slice and the usual suspects for breakfast today - removed from servery ~8:55am.)

 

[Skyring]

As an aside, the taxi/pickup area is an absolute mess (think Perth airport during the external renovations).

It's a better arrangement than the previous pickup/dropoff area, which was an absolute scrum on busy days. At least now there are two levels for pickups and dropoffs. You know, like a proper airport.

The taxi rank is a temporary arrangement and a right pain in the bum.

So far there is no actual pickup area for private arrivals. You are supposed to park and meet Aunt Gwen in the terminal and take them back to your car. There are a lot of folk who don't want to pay the short term parking fee or couldn't be bothered, and consequently try to collect passengers at the dropoff area (making things difficult for genuine dropoffs) or try to find a convenient place - generally on the sides of the roundabout between the cabrank and the parking garage, which is dangerous.

It was absolutely hilarious in the first week or two. There would be cars and people wandering all over trying to hook up in the unfamiliar landscape. I saw at least one private car go through the cabyard boomgate, and you'd see people hauling luggage off into construction zones. It's still not uncommon to find people walking or driving the wrong way down some of the narrow winding lanes marked off by barriers.

The torrential rain just after opening didn't help - the temporary tarmac turned into potholes and the new paving on the ramps to the departures level developed a bad case of the wonkies.

One of my passengers told me that the CL was falling apart at one end, with cracks in the wall.

The J lounge is huge and must surely take a prize for widest variety of seat styles. No view over the tarmac, however.

The QP is even huger. I like it.

Looking forward to the whole thing finishing sometime next year. It should work really well. The idea is that as you drive up, you see through the glass atrium to where the planes are docked. The whole layout is essentially transparent - you can see at a glance where to park, where to drop passengers, where checkin and security is located and so on.

A lot of thought has gone into it.

At the moment, however, not quite so functional, especially for the poor Virgin/Tiger passengers, who have a confusing walk through their bit of the old terminal.

 

[Skyring]

Actually end of 2011 the new terminal should be completed (more likely early 2012 IMO). The tear down I imagine will be happening soon and probably the old qantas part is being pulled down now, to make way for the new terminal.
The other multistorey carpark should have also started, although can't remember whether it has.

They are gutting the old Qantas terminal - I notice the treads from the escalator piled outside and the whole area is fenced off as a construction zone. Soon they'll be pulling down the building. A chunk of tarmac has been fenced off beside the cabyard which is where the west "wing" will be built.

The multistory carpark area is being prepared. They'll be digging foundations and so on soon.

Given the way things go up around the airport - office buildings appear very quickly - I wouldn't be surprised to see the whole thing finished next year. Late next year.

Also the new terminal is meant to be multiuser, like Adelaide and will have international gates in anticipation of 3-4 flights a week to NZ and maybe a couple to Singapore.

I still can't understand how a city with 350K pop can support international flights, especially with Sydney so close. They tried winter flights to Fiji a few years back, but the planes were doing the run virtually empty.

I can understand how a 24 hour airfreight hub would work - apart from a few kilometres of Majura Road, it's fourlane all the way to Sydney.

 

[Justinf]

Saw the terminal today. Vast improvement.
DJ Lounge was OK. Bigger than ADL, but digustingly hot. Not sure whether it was all that glass surrounding it and the fact that it was 35 degrees outside, but even the staff said it was horribly hot.
In fact, that has been my complaint on most DJ Lounges. Inside temp of 27 degrees is not nice.

 

[Hvr]

The J lounge is huge and must surely take a prize for widest variety of seat styles. No view over the tarmac, however.

The QP is even huger. I like it.

Having visited a few times (both flying and availing myself of the 'anytime access') I would prefer the J lounge was on the tarmac side. I think it is a much better view.

As for parking and quick pick up; well the sooner this is all fixed up the better. The undercover park has been closed a couple of times recently, ostensibly because it was full. However, the signage is not visible until you actually get to the entrance forcing you to do another loop to get back to the open air car park.

Very poor set up, I hope it is all fixed up soon.