Virgin Australia Moves to New Perth Airport Domestic Terminal

13th Nov 2015

Announcing the new domestic terminal at Perth Airport, Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti said this will bring the carrier a "leading position" in the Western Australia's aviation market thanks to the way the facility offers seamless transfers between domestic, regional and international flights.

Speaking at the terminal's preview this Friday (it opens for traffic on 22nd November), Borghetti said:

"We can get minimum connecting times down to about an hour. This is a big benefit for customers as they don't have to spend as much time in the terminal. But looking at this terminal, you want to spend as much time as you can in the terminal."

Virgin will now move out of the old domestic prescient, which will now be solely occupied by Qantas and its branches QantasLink and Jetstar.

The new terminal has 400 guest seats and is the first in Australia where Virgin will offer self-service bad-drop facilities and will also include 28 self-service check-in kiosks, as well as seven service pods for guest assistance.

According to chief executive for Perth Airport Brand Geatches, this is probably the first time in the history of Australian aviation that one airline has decided to move its entire operation from one side of the airport to another.

Geatches said:

"We currently operate out of, let's be charitable, legacy terminals. They were constructed by the Commonwealth and are about 30 years old. Generally, the older facilities tend to be in a structural sense narrower, smaller and have lower ceiling heights. This facility will operate for at least half a century."

As Geatches said, Qantas will most likely remain where it is right now until the beginning of the next decade. After that, he said, Qantas will relocate to a new facility on the same side of the Perth Airport where Virgin is now.