Australia’s Qantas Airways has reached a multibillion-dollar agreement with Perth Airport that will see the construction of a new terminal and runway to facilitate an expansion of international routes offered by the airline to Western Australia.
The 12-year agreement will see Perth Airport invest A$3bn ($2bn) into a new terminal at its Airport Central precinct for Qantas and its subsidiary Jetstar, ending a years-long dispute over the move.
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[The agreement] resolves all outstanding commercial issues in dispute between Perth Airport and Qantas
Qantas
Perth will invest another A$2bn in surrounding infrastructure including multi-storey car parks, roadworks and a hotel. Qantas has committed to building a new engineering hangar in the precinct.
Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson said: “This is the largest airport infrastructure deal in our history. It will enable us to create a world-class western hub and significantly expand our domestic and international services over the short, medium and long term.”
Hudson will likely be hoping that the major deal draws a line under the airline’s past fee disagreements and court battles with Perth Airport, under previous CEO Alan Joyce, who Hudson replaced in 2023 amid a series of separate legal troubles for the company.
As a result of the Perth dispute, Qantas had kept its domestic operations at the airport’s old western terminal.
Highlighting this new chapter, the statement announcing the agreement ended with a declaration that it “resolves all outstanding commercial issues in dispute between Perth Airport and Qantas.”
The investment timeline published by Perth and Qantas will see Jetstar move its domestic services to Terminal 2 from September 2024, the new parallel runway operating in 2028, and the new terminal opening to passengers in 2031.
Building up to the launch of the new terminal, Qantas said it would add more destinations to its offerings from the airport, including routes to Auckland, New Zealand and Johannesburg, South Africa from mid-2025. It said it hoped to have 4.4 million annual seats to and from Perth by the time the terminal opens.
Qantas confirmed the airport would install gate upgrades to accommodate the use of its Project Sunrise A350-1000s at the site, which will conduct ultra-long-haul flights connecting Australia to Europe and New York, US with non-stop services, building on the direct London to Perth service offered by Qantas since 2018.
Perth Airport CEO Jason Waters said: “Western Australians will now see the largest-ever private investment in an infrastructure development in Perth – a once in a lifetime investment program that will completely change the face of Perth Airport over the next decade.”
“Qantas has some ambitious growth plans for its operations in Perth and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to push ahead together to realise this potential.” He added.
