3 History

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 Island and Mauritius.

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

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

In 2001, after the 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.

4 Future plans

4.1 Introduction of the A380

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.

4.2 Closure of the Western domestic terminal

The master plan for the airport aims for the domestic and international terminals to be consolidated into the international terminal by 2021. At present, the international and domestic terminals are on opposite sides of the main runway, are not connected by any bridge or rail service. It is approximately 11 kilometres to drive between the two terminals.

The plan would see the closure of the existing western terminal, and the international terminal would be developed to include better transport access, such as a new railway line.

4.3 Developing a third runway

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.

5 External links

• Perth Airport Official site
• Perth Airport Master Plan (2004 draft)

Airports of Australia Perth

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