By Charlene Macaulay
Pack your bags – Avalon Airport’s international terminal will soon have travellers jetsetting across the globe.
Construction is well under way on the $38 million terminal, which will cover about 7000 square metres.
The roof and main structure are close to completion and will be followed by the internal fit-out of the passenger lounge, kitchens, duty free areas, retail areas and border control.
Avalon Airport chief executive Justin Giddings said the terminal had been designed for quick and easy use by travellers.
“We have configured it in a way that is really easy to navigate through – there’s no real long walks,” Mr Giddings said.
“For example, you’ll check in at the main domestic terminal, then you’ll walk through into the international terminal via a forecourt. That forecourt will have some coffee shops, some other amenities in there, but then you’ll walk into the main international terminal where you’ll just walk straight through security and then go into the immigration area.
“Once you pass through immigration, you’ll walk through duty free and then into the lounge. Likewise, coming in from the plane, you’ll walk off the plane, over the tarmac, pass through duty free and into the immigration area. Once you’re through there, you’ll go through and pick up your bags and simply walk out of the terminal.
“It’s all one level, so it’s really easy to navigate and we think it will be really popular.”
It is expected more than 500,000 people will go through Avalon’s international terminal in its first year of operation, with the very first AirAsia X flight scheduled to arrive at Avalon on the morning of December 5.
Mr Giddings said that while Avalon’s current focus was getting ready for AirAsia, the airport was keen to sign on more international carriers.
“We have built the terminal so that it can be utilised by different airlines simultaneously by extension,” he said. “To get another airline in, we’d either move them in between the AirAsia flights or we would build a larger terminal.
“AirAsia is really a good first [international] airline, because it flies through Kuala Lumpar to 130 destinations throughout Asia.
“So even though we’ve got one airline flying twice a day, you can easily go on to 15 locations throughout China.
“You can get to Hong Kong, you can get to India, you can get to the Phillipines, you can even get to Bali.”
