New Virgin Perth Terminal

[777]

Some nice pics and renders in this article from the West Australian today...

Perth gets look at best in airport design - The West Australian

 

[jneufeld]

A few more shiny renders on the Perth Airport Website too
A New Home for Virgin Australia

 

[Reggie]

Well this confirms my opinion of artists impressions. Not a flouro shirt / vest or steel capped to be seen. This can't be a true representation of a Perth airport.

 

[anat0l]

Guess this means QF will have no choice in the matter - they'll have to wait until VA move into the new terminal before they can even think about redoing the joke of their domestic terminal.

By the time they can do that, VA would have well and truly taken over PER, rendering both QFi and QFd ex-PER pretty useless except for overflow traffic.

Apart from that, QF will have the natural disadvantage of needing to connect pax between PER International and its domestic ops as required. Guess that's not a "big deal" seeing as QFi has pitiful routes out of PER, though if they are intent on pursuing the EK strategy then that could be an issue.


The new terminal looks good in pictures. Reminds me of HKG, except a bit less industrial looking.

I'm surprised VA only budgeted their domestic ops for 8-12 gates and 2 baggage belts (at least that's what the article says).

 

[oz_mark]

Guess this means QF will have no choice in the matter - they'll have to wait until VA move into the new terminal before they can even think about redoing the joke of their domestic terminal.

Really? It is much better than it used to be.

In some ways I prefer the PER QF terminal to some of the shared terminal facilities that DJ uses in some other eastern state airports.

As for transit passengers, pretty sure more passengers transit domestically than dom<->int. Anyway, Qantas are pretty much there till 2018.


One would hope that there is some scope to expand the terminal at a later date, bearing in mind it is part of a multiphase project.

 

[anat0l]

Really? It is much better than it used to be.

All that got better was the flow... and 2 extra screening machines (that took them 4 or more years to realise were necessary).

The QP is nice but the space - as exemplified in another thread - is inadequate.

I don't think the gate count was appreciably increased in the new terminal, let alone aerobridge count (though suffice to say QF are really dragging their feet with fleet upgrades / upgauges on C2C routes).

It's less congested than the old terminal but otherwise it's just the same excuse for a terminal. QF is trying to take advantage of a lucrative market and the best it can put up is seen at PER T2, let alone the rest of its services. You have to be kidding me that that is a good effort.

Anyway, Qantas are pretty much there till 2018.

The VA terminal is due to open 2014. VA will surely pounce on PER at that time. I don't know if QF can last 4 years in PER once VA put that plan into action.

 

[oz_mark]

All that got better was the flow... and 2 extra screening machines (that took them 4 or more years to realise were necessary).

The QP is nice but the space - as exemplified in another thread - is inadequate.

Only so much you can do with the space you have. The issues at PER are much more the fault of the airport operator than any of the airlines.

I don't think the gate count was appreciably increased in the new terminal, let alone aerobridge count (though suffice to say QF are really dragging their feet with fleet upgrades / upgauges on C2C routes).

An extra aerobridge was added.

It's less congested than the old terminal but otherwise it's just the same excuse for a terminal. QF is trying to take advantage of a lucrative market and the best it can put up is seen at PER T2, let alone the rest of its services. You have to be kidding me that that is a good effort.

I don't know. I travel through it several times a year, and I find it quite an improvement from where it was. Certainly they have a way to go until it could really be described as fit for purpose, but the issues are slowly being addressed.

The VA terminal is due to open 2014. VA will surely pounce on PER at that time. I don't know if QF can last 4 years in PER once VA put that plan into action.

Of course QF will last 4 years. Come October, most PER-MEL flights on QF will be A330, with a couple of 767s and the odd 73H dotted around the timetable. They're in for a fight, sure, but they seem to be quite willing to bring in the big guns to defend their turf.

 

[anat0l]

Only so much you can do with the space you have. The issues at PER are much more the fault of the airport operator than any of the airlines.

I don't think people will be quick to blame an airport authority more than an airline, and why should they? You don't see Virgin complaining about the airport operator, so Qantas is the only baby throwing toys out of the cot?

An extra aerobridge was added.

One! *golf clap*

I don't know. I travel through it several times a year, and I find it quite an improvement from where it was. Certainly they have a way to go until it could really be described as fit for purpose, but the issues are slowly being addressed.

Slowly is the word there; really slow is the reality. It's not as if QF have had years to address this in a more upfront manner.

An improvement, yes. On a scale from -10 to 10, they progressed from -9 to about -3 if they're lucky.

Begs me to think whether the Perthites, even on this board, find their airport acceptable. I'd be very surprised if they say yes.

Of course QF will last 4 years. Come October, most PER-MEL flights on QF will be A330, with a couple of 767s and the odd 73H dotted around the timetable. They're in for a fight, sure, but they seem to be quite willing to bring in the big guns to defend their turf.

QF have been pledging more regular 333/332 flights on SYD and MEL routes for ages; the equipment swaps have been ridiculous. And why do QF put 738 aircraft on C2C (except possibly for ADL, ASP and DRW) - ridiculous. VA are going to beat them to full wide bodies on C2C; that's beyond embarrassing for QF.

With VA having a like-on-like schedule and all wide bodies, that gives them more capacity to rip traffic off QF. Once the new terminal comes online, they will have a lot more capacity to step up schedules with more wide bodies. QF can't squeeze what little viable aircraft they have at the facility, let alone they are also having a crisis of load and yield. That pool of viable aircraft is dependent on getting 332s back from JQ (and that's a damn slow process so far), and I don't know if QF can viably put more 747s on the route (let alone whether the 747 C2C experiment has actually been successful - it's damn old onboard equipment).

Big guns? I ain't seeing it. And with a gutless, ethically-challenged board of directors, I don't see it any time soon.

 

[oz_mark]

Begs me to think whether the Perthites, even on this board, find their airport acceptable. I'd be very surprised if they say yes.

I doubt that you would find anyone in Perth that finds the airport acceptable. But I really don't see the doom and gloom for Qantas.

QF have been pledging more regular 333/332 flights on SYD and MEL routes for ages; the equipment swaps have been ridiculous. And why do QF put 738 aircraft on C2C (except possibly for ADL, ASP and DRW) - ridiculous. VA are going to beat them to full wide bodies on C2C; that's beyond embarrassing for QF.

Just when are Virgin going full wide body on C2C? MEL-PER after the next A330 is delivered, but still some way to go for SYD-PER.

With VA having a like-on-like schedule and all wide bodies, that gives them more capacity to rip traffic off QF. Once the new terminal comes online, they will have a lot more capacity to step up schedules with more wide bodies. QF can't squeeze what little viable aircraft they have at the facility, let alone they are also having a crisis of load and yield. That pool of viable aircraft is dependent on getting 332s back from JQ (and that's a damn slow process so far), and I don't know if QF can viably put more 747s on the route (let alone whether the 747 C2C experiment has actually been successful - it's damn old onboard equipment).

AFAIK, QF have another domestic A330 scheduled for delivery later this year. DJ need more A330s before they can go all widebody on SYD and MEL - PER, regardless of which terminal they are using. QF have another thing up their sleeve at the moment, and that is frequency. They simply have more flights happening.

Sure, Virgin are stepping up to the plate, which is a good thing. But we have yet to see what their fully inclusive meal offerings are to be on the C2C services. I just don't see Qantas stepping away that easily.

FWIW, in ten years time, I fully expect that Virgin and Qantas will be quite similar in a lot of respects. They are just coming from opposite directions getting there.

 

[mannej]

How many A330's are on order for DJ?

5 may cover SYD and MEL, but are we not forgetting BNE and the widebodies?

As for 737's running out of PER, I see a lot more on weekends then during the week. I guess you need to balance frequency and demand, and that's where the 737s pop in from time to time.

 

[Bofter]

I doubt that you would find anyone in Perth that finds the airport acceptable.

I am in Perth and I find that althought the airport would benefit from improvement, I don't know if I would call it unacceptable.

Short term parking is much cheaper than Melbourne.
The expanded Virgin lounge has been pretty good and not overflowing the times I have been there.
I have never had to wait more than a few seconds for Virgin priority check in.
Virgin priority baggage seems to come out fairly quickly, and the claim area is no worse than in T3 in Melbourne.
Flying internationally the Singapore Airlines lounge was fine, and coming back customs and immigration seemed OK despite being a few flights arriving together.

Maybe I am really lucky, but my main frustration has been a few delays on the taxiways waiting for queued flights in front of us to depart. From what I read, this seems to be happening more and more at Brisbane as well.

So all in all, improvement would be welcome, as always, but I don't consider it third world or anything dramatic like that.

 

[Must...Fly!]

The airport experience for me is now 10x better since the QF side had the new security screening point installed a few years ago, and NGCI.

Both those improvements have really made it so much easier for me...it was once necessary to get to the airport at least 2 hours before the flight, especially during peak times. Now I can rock up 45 minutes before, check my bag in and be at the gate in a maximum of 10 minutes after stepping out of the car.

The VA terminal screening and check-in is not nearly as nice an experience as the QF one. IMO.

 

[Justchecking]

Australia seems to be really suffering from a lack of foresight with its transport infrastructure, but good to see that building proper city terminals is finally underway in our major capitals. The last of the tin sheds for airports seem to be disappearing as we finally realise that these are gateways into and out of a country rather than just places to park planes. Sydney still takes the cake though for failure to plan and expand in accordance with traffic growth. I am still at a loss for words when I see carparks being built in preference to actual teminal space and extra gates. :shock: Makes me wonder if the 2020 plan for Sydney airport is just a carpark city and they'll move the planes and passengers somewhere else.

Seems like white terrazzo is gong to be popular and a permanent fixture of the 'future', must buy stock in commercial finishes factory, either that or in Hans Hulsbosch Inc. So the new Perth Airport is going to look just like a Westfields shopping mall, anywhere.

 

[The Rok]

I really don't think this is the end of QF in Perth. QF still hold onto the two largest mining contracts in Australia and there is no sign of them losing them.

 

[vitagen]

Im a Perthie and content with the current Dom layout, compared to say 5 years ago, however we are still behind the Mel/Syd offerings.

International is a hole, the most disgraceful piece of aviation infrastructure in all the places I have visited. Its just very inefficient, there isnt enough immigration and customs personnel and what is with the arrival timetable? During the mid afternoons with 4-5 flights arriving within an hour, takes ages to exit!

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