Canberra Airport in Australia officially opened its new International Terminal today (September 16) with the first international flight scheduled to arrive from Singapore on September 21, 2016.
The A$18m (US$13.5m) facility will have capacity for up to one million international passengers per year and features modern facilities such as a business lounge, media lounge, private meeting rooms, and a bar and dining area. The terminal will provide 85 direct jobs and more than 240 indirect jobs, with several new roles to be created over the next 12 months.
Terry Snow, executive chairman for the Capital Airport Group, the airport operator, said, “We were determined to build the best little airport in the world, and this has been the completion of our dream. We have spent A$2bn (US$1.5bn) to realize this ambition in commercial infrastructure, and an airport designed to handle 12 million passengers.
“We’ve shown plenty of guts in providing these facilities – it is now up to the Canberra community to take up the challenge.”
Stephen Byron, managing director, Canberra Airport, said, “We have partnered with Singapore Airlines, the Department of Agriculture, Border Force and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to provide a high level of service for embarking and disembarking passengers.
“We now have an enormous capability and strong competitive advantages to leverage growth in our international services to and from the Canberra region and, together with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government, are in active discussions with a number of airlines about additional services to other international destinations.”
