Perth Airport

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IATA: PER - ICAO: YPPH
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Westralia Airports
Serves Perth, Western Australia
Elevation AMSL 67 ft (20 m)
Coordinates 31°56′25″S, 115°58′01″E
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
03/21 11,299 3,444 Asphalt
06/24 7,096 2,163 Asphalt

Perth Airport (IATA: PERICAO: YPPH) is an Australian domestic and international airport located south of Guildford, Western Australia, and is the major commercial airport servicing Western Australia's capital city, Perth. It is a medium sized airport by international standards, but plays a strategic role due to its location – servicing many Australian, Asian, African and Pacific locations.

The domestic terminal is 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from the Perth CBD, whilst the international terminal is 17 kilometres (10.6 mi) from the CBD. The airport is located near major arterial roads Great Eastern Highway and Tonkin Highway. The domestic terminal is also accessible from the city by public transport buses, and transfers between terminals is provided by complimentary transfer buses.

Contents

Perth Airport has three main terminals and one minor terminal:

  • Terminal 1, the eastern international terminal caters for flights originating or departing outside Australia, with five jetways and a total of seven gates. It has also supported upstart domestic airlines such as Compass Airlines in the 1990s, and Virgin Blue from 2001-2002.
  • The western domestic terminal is divided into two structures,
    • Terminal 2, the Qantas terminal solely dedicated to Qantas domestic operations, with three jetways and a total of nine gates.
    • Terminal 3, a Multi-user Domestic Terminal (MUDT), formerly the Ansett terminal, now used by Skywest and Virgin Blue domestic services, with two jetways and a total of seven gates.
  • A northern general aviation terminal, used primarily by charter aircraft, mainly for mining companies as Fly-in, Fly-out services to remote operations.

Flights are serviced by two runways – the main 03/21 runway, 3444 m long and 06/24, 2163 m long.

The control tower. Built in 1986.
The control tower. Built in 1986.

The Airport commenced service in May, 1944 as Guildford Aerodrome. Its services replaced previous airfields in Maylands, as well as on the city's foreshore at Langley Park.

The airport was renamed to Perth International Airport in 1952 after the departure of its first international flight, bound for South Africa via Cocos Islands and Mauritius.

Historically a number of carriers which have carried passengers through the airport no longer exist – examples include airlines that have folded up, and in various decades carriers have lost rights or withdrawn services. Indonesian carrriers such as Sempati no longer exist. Some operators also have withdrawn services only to recommence later on.

To cope with increased passenger numbers, a new dedicated international terminal and control tower was opened in 1986 on the eastern side of the airport.

In 1999, a landing Boeing 747 crashed one of its engines into the runway upon landing. The cause was determined[1] to be prevailing weather conditions which often result in low-level turbulence, also known as wind shear, largely due to local geography, with rolling winds caused by the nearby Darling Scarp. The incident has resulted in efforts to improve weather monitoring systems around the airport.

In 2001, after the financial collapse of Ansett Airlines, the Ansett terminal became a multi-user terminal, catering for flights from former Ansett-subsidiary Skywest, as well as Virgin Blue.

The airport simplified its name to Perth Airport in 2002.

The airport commemorated its 60th anniversary in 2004, with an event that opened the new Taxiway Sierra, a new taxiway supporting larger aircraft such as the Airbus A380 to operate at the airport.

The Perth Airport Meteorological Office opened in May 1944 at Ivy St, Redcliffe. It commenced surface and upper air observations and was then known as the Guildford Meteorological Office. Surface observations were moved to the Old Airport Control Tower near the Domestic Terminal approximately 1.5 kilometres (1 mi) SSE of the Radar site (at Ivy Street) in March 1988. Its name was changed to the Perth Airport Meteorological Office and the old site was retained for launching and tracking weather balloons. All functions were transferred to the Meteorological Office at its present location, 1.7 km NNE of the Old Airport Control Tower, in October 1997.

Statistics for Perth Airport[1]
Year Domestic Passengers International Passengers Total Passengers
1998-99 3,264,459 1,537,325 4,801,784
1999-00 3,385,825 1,599,485 4,985,310
2000-01 3,560,565 1,660,275 5,220,840
2001-02 3,160,085 1,651,069 4,811,154
2002-03 3,720,237 1,612,508 5,332,745
2003-04 4,272,187 1,766,617 6,038,804
2004-05 4,678,976 1,977,163 6,656,139
2005-06 5,107,657 2,027,223 7,134,880

Current event marker Future airport expansion This article or section contains information about a planned or expected expansion of an existing airport.

It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the airport expansion approaches, and as more information becomes available on it.

It has been suggested that with the introduction of the Airbus A380 aircraft, Perth Airport would be ideally positioned to serve as a hub for Europe-Australia flights – the so called Kangaroo route. Due to the ability for increased flight distances, carriers would be able to bypass historical stopovers in locations such as Singapore or Bangkok, instead flying directly from Perth to major European airports. The state government and airport administrators have stated it as a goal to make Perth attractive for this, and have plans to upgrade the airport to accommodate the larger aircraft and passenger numbers. The currently used Airbus A340-500 has a range long enough to go from London to Perth[2]. However, neither British Airways nor Qantas appears to have an interest in such a direct route at this time.

The 2024 Airport Master Plan[3] aims for the domestic and international terminals to be consolidated into a single terminal on the south-eastern side of the airfield sometime between 2021 to 2024[4]. At present, the international and domestic terminals are on opposite sides of the airfield and are not directly connected through a regular public transport passenger service. While it is possible to travel by road between the two terminals, it is approximately an 11 kilometre (7 mi) distance between the two locations by public roads.

The 2024 masterplan calls for the completion of a rail link[5] that will connect with the Midland Line between Bayswater Station and Ashfield Station at the Tonkin Highway. The proposed rail link will continue above ground along Tonkin Highway to Great Eastern Highway where it is believed to go underground along Brearley Avenue and to the terminals in operation at completion of the line. A rail link to the airport was originally proposed in the 1990's by nearby local government bodies, however the proposal was not followed through at the time.

The land on which the airport is situated is Commonwealth Government land. The Airport property exists in a different jurisdiction from adjacent lands. As a consequence when the plans are regularly reviewed for the airport land, the unique status has been viewed with interest for the potential for enforcing rigorous environmental standards due to the remnant bushland within the boundaries – and also for potential developments that are not constrained by pressures on adjacent state jurisdiction lands.

Future planning for the airport sees a third runway built parallel to the existing main 03/21 runway. The plan is controversial as it would increase noise impact on a larger portion of the Perth metropolitan area.

  • Alliance Airlines (Leincster, Mount Kieth)
  • National Jet Systems (Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Learmonth, Murrin Murrin, Paraburdoo, Telfer, The Granites)
  • Ozjet (Derby)
  • Qantas (Adelaide, Ayers Rock/Uluru Brisbane, Broome, Cairns, Canberra, Darwin, Karratha, Melbourne, Sydney)
    • QantasLink (Alice Springs, Ayers Rock/Uluru, Karratha, Kalgoorlie, Broome, Newman, Paraburdoo, Port Hedland)
    • Jetstar Airways (Melbourne (Avalon))
  • Skippers Aviation (Laverton, Leonora, Leinster, Meekatharra, Mount Magnet, Wiluna)
  • Skywest (Albany, Argyle, Broome, Bali, Carnarvon, Darwin, Esperance, Exmouth, Geraldton, Kalbarri, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Kununurra, Learmonth, Monkey Mia, Newman, Port Hedland)
  • Virgin Blue (Adelaide, Brisbane, Broome, Melbourne, Sydney)

(Airlines that participate in alliances generally code-share flights with other member airlines. For example, flights with British Airways designations are actually flown by Qantas.)

Tiger Airways, a Singapore based low cost carrier, will be commencing scheduled services from Singapore Changi to Perth Airport on March 23, 2007. Initially, there will be four weekly services which may increase to a daily service.

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