Australia’s sixth busiest airport, Gold Coast Airport, will this week install its first-ever aerobridges as part of construction work taking place there.
The four aerobridges will be fitted to the expanded terminal ahead of state borders fully reopening in 2022, eliminating the bugbear of the past few decades – boarding and deplaning at the mercy of mother nature.
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The gangways will directly link the terminal to aircraft, and are spread from the northern to the southern end of the terminal expansion.
Each weighs 31 tonnes and measure 22 metres when they arrived, extending to 40 metres when in place.
The aerobridges arrived on the Gold Coast last week after travelling about 13,500 kilometres across land and sea, visiting seven cities in two countries along the way.
Queensland Airports Limited CEO Chris Mills said passengers would get a better understanding of the future look and feel, and operation of the terminal when the aerobridges were in place.
“The aerobridges are a central part of the development and when people see them, they will get a good idea of how the passenger experience is going to change from next year with the terminal expansion,” Mills said.
The airport chief said frequent visitors to the Gold Coast had been unaware of the 30,000 square metre terminal expansion throughout construction because of extremely low passenger numbers at the airport – but that was about to change.
“As we welcome back a significant number of passengers from NSW, Victoria and the ACT next month, they will be able to see all the work that has been going on at GCA since they were gone,” he said.
Glass aerobridges, which will be used for both international and domestic flights, will deliver views of the spectacular Gold Coast and northern NSW region for arriving and departing passengers.
The terminal expansion will deliver a significant change in space and experience for passengers when it opens next year. The three-level expansion will double the terminal footprint and includes additional retail space, and new boarding facilities, a large departure lounge, baggage handling and border control facilities.
Lead image: A render of the departure lounge at Gold Coast Airport.