Hawks Nest Probus members witness Newcastle Airport’s great expansion

MEMBERS of Hawks Nest PROBUS Club were recently treated to a rare glimpse into international aviation with special tours of Newcastle Airport.

Paul McFarlane, head of airport, led the tour. Mr McFarlane was the head of airport security and operational resilience during the facility’s upgrade and had answers to PROBUS members’ questions as they journeyed through the airport’s physical manifestation of its future aspirations.

Newcastle Airport is officially international, boasting four Bali-bound flights per week, via Singapore, with plenty of capacity to grow as more routes come into being.

Forward thinking in the design has seen a customised ‘swing gate’, a feature also seen in new facilities such as Western Sydney International.

Gates that would otherwise stand useless at a given time can be swung into action, facilitating international or domestic passenger processing as the schedule requires.

“The fact that domestic and international are in the same terminals requires some customer education,” Mr McFarlane said.

“We have seen customers arrive from domestic routes, buy food and water in the airport, only to then have to surrender it when they are screened for international departure.”

Mr McFarlane said the airport’s new incarnation boasted many new features.

“Millions of dollars of investment have gone into it, mostly to create a pleasant and functional experience, like the new airport lounge and duty-free area, which never existed before,” Mr McFarlane said.

He said that Newcastle Airport was on track to welcome 1.3 million passengers per year, and were likely to reach goals set for 2035 by 2030, including 2500 car spaces.

“We are constantly learning from passenger movements and behaviour, like the need for more specific and strategically placed signage,” Mr McFarlane said.

Inevitable comparisons to the new Western Sydney International Airport being built in Sydney came about, as well as contrasts with the old Kingsford-Smith airport on Botany Bay, which is now hemmed in by suburbia and water.

Williamtown’s facility takes advantage of the fact that, while the city nearby has been steadily growing, there is plenty of space around the existing infrastructure.

Due to the location of Newcastle Airport, it will also avoid being hemmed in by buildings in the future.

The tour witnessed the new Border Force and screening areas, and got to see inside the guts of the operation before it clicked into top gear.

Plenty of room remains within the building to duplicate security arrangements, meaning the airport could virtually double in capacity when it was ready to do so.

The newly expanded regional airport is now hailed as future-proof: Facilities exist for all border enforcement authorities to be permanently based here when the demand meets it.

The airport is predicted to grow in the coming years and decades, and is already capable of accommodating larger aircraft direct from overseas.

The routes that can be flown to or from any given airport are, ultimately, up to the carriers. The airport has a business development team devoted to persuading airlines to use the facility, but the market and airline companies have to justify plying those routes.

By Thomas O’KEEFE