Airport welcomes lounge extension

Geraldton Airport’s new departures lounge is officially open.

The City of Greater Geraldton Mayor today officially opened the Geraldton Airport Terminal Extension with the addition of a new departures lounge.

Initiated and financed by the City of Greater Geraldton, the new departures lounge is meeting the growing needs and demands of the airport.

The $2.23 million project has been funded entirely by the City via revenue generated by the airport.                               

Statistics show that the number of passengers has significantly grown in the last decade. In the 2005-06 financial year passenger movements sat at just over 88,000, the 2014-15 financial year saw 119,791 passenger movements with the addition of 11,900 charter passengers.

City of Greater Geraldton Mayor, Ian Carpenter, said the new extension was catering for the needs of the airport and its passengers.

“Geraldton is a regional capital and it is important for us to cater for people coming in and out of the region,” he said.

“We have both Virgin and Qantas operating out of our airport and we need a departure lounge with capacity for up to 200 people.”

Passengers in the new lounge will enjoy features including toilet facilities, a small café, an internet nook as well as digital device recharge points. Separate to the extension, the City has also financed the construction of new short term and long term carparks to provide for future needs.

“We continue to see a steady influx of over 400 homes built every year in Geraldton and with the high value of mining within 500km of Geraldton, growth is inevitable,” Mayor Carpenter said.

“This extension and future extensions are necessary for the needs of our airport in the future.

“We undertook this terminal extension without grant assistance and we have plans for further extensions.”

The City has plans to renew the pavement of the main runway, extending the runway to meet ongoing regional growth needs, as recognised in the Mid West Blueprint.

The extension of the airport commenced in January 2015 and was completed in March this year. Architecture was completed by Eastman Poletti Sherwood and Crothers Construction was awarded the building contract.