Gold Coast Airport (formerly known as Coolangatta Airport) is an international Australian airport located at the southern end of the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

and approximately south of centre of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, within South East Queensland agglomeration. The entrance to the airport is situated in the suburb of Bilinga near

Coolangatta Coolangatta is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is the Gold Coast's southernmost suburb and it borders New South Wales. In the , Coolangatta had a population of 5,948 people. Geography Coolangatta and its ...

. The runway itself cuts through the state borders of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. During summer, these states are in two different time zones. The Gold Coast Airport operates on Queensland Time all year round (year-round AEST / UTC+10). For the 2015–16 financial year, Gold Coast Airport exceeded 6 million passengers. It is the seventh-busiest airport in Australia, and the busiest outside a state capital, in terms of passengers, and eighth-busiest in aircraft movements. It is also the third-fastest-growing airport in the country.

History

Until 1989, the airport was known as ''Coolangatta Airport''. This is an Aboriginal word meaning "Place of Good View". It originally consisted (1936) of three grass strips with the intention of only providing an emergency landing ground for airmail aircraft transiting between Brisbane and Sydney. Passenger flights took off for the first time in 1939 using the then grassy field of the current

site. Regular services were started by Queensland Airlines and Butler Air Transport after the Second World War. Ansett started its own services in 1950 using DC-3s, while

Trans Australia Airlines Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Brand ...

did the same in 1954 using DC-3s, too, as well as DC-4s and

Convair Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, it ...

s to link other Australian cities. By 1958, the taxiways and runways were fully paved, with the latter upgraded a decade later to allow jet operations with

DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

and L-188 Electra aircraft to begin. The current terminal, known as the '' Eric Robinson Building'', was officially opened in 1981 by Acting Prime Minister Douglas Anthony, when at the time more than 650,000 passengers were using the airport. The following year, the main runway was lengthened to , thus permitting the use of wide-body jets by the two domestic operators

Ansett Australia Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia. After operating for 65 years, the airline was placed into adminis ...

and Trans Australia Airlines and their

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...

and

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner. West G ...

respectively on flights from Melbourne and Sydney. From 1 January 1988, the airport was managed by the

Federal Airports Corporation The Federal Airports Corporation (FAC) was a business enterprise of the Government of Australia responsible for the operation of major passenger airports in Australia. It was established by the Hawke Labor Government by an Act of Parliament in ...

on behalf of the Government. A decade later, on 29 May 1998, the airport was privatised via a long-term lease to

Queensland Airports Limited Queensland Airports Limited is an Australian Airport consortium in charge of two separate Airport consortia in the state of Queensland, Australia. Under the two consortia, it is in charge of four airports; Gold Coast, Longreach, Mount Isa and T ...

(QAL). By 1999 the company's name had changed to become Gold Coast Airport Pty Ltd (GCAPL). The airport then suffered from the collapse of Ansett in 2001, as Ansett had operated direct services from the Gold Coast to 12 Australian destinations. In 2003, GCAPL was taken over by QAL, which today also leases and operates

Mount Isa Airport Mount Isa Airport is an airport serving the western Queensland city of Mount Isa, Australia. It is served by a variety of scheduled regional airlines, with flights to Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns as well as several other regional centres. T ...

Townsville Airport Townsville Airport is a major Australian regional airport that services the city of Townsville, Queensland. The airport is also known as Townsville International Airport, and Garbutt Airport, a reference to its location in the Townsville sub ...

and Longreach Airport. Despite the name change from ''Coolangatta Airport'' to ''Gold Coast Airport'', the airport retains its original

IATA code IATA codes are abbreviations that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) publishes to facilitate air travel. They are typically 1, 2, 3, or 4 character combinations (referred to as unigrams, digrams, trigrams, or tetragrams, respecti ...

, OOL and ICAO code, YBCG. The Airport ownership remains with the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federalism, federal parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster system, Westminster-sty ...

. In 1989, the airport welcomed its first international charter service from New Zealand, and by 1999

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...

low-cost subsidiary

Freedom Air Freedom Air (legally ''Freedom Air International'') was a New Zealand low-cost airline which operated since 8 December 1995 to March 2008. It was part of the Air New Zealand Group which ran scheduled passenger services from New Zealand to Aust ...

started scheduled no-frills service from

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton ( mi, Kirikiriroa) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the country's fou ...

with

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...

s. In 2007 the airport celebrated the arrival of

AirAsia X AirAsia X (previously known as ''FlyAsianXpress Sdn. Bhd.''), is a long-haul budget airline based in Malaysia, and a sister company of AirAsia. It commenced operations on 2 November 2007 with its first service flown from Kuala Lumpur Internatio ...

, which began services directly to

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

, Malaysia, and

Tigerair Australia Tiger Airways Australia Pty Ltd, operating as Tigerair Australia, was an Australian low-cost airline. Founded by Tiger Airways Holdings, it commenced services in the domestic airline market on 23 November 2007 as Tiger Airways Australia. It l ...

, which started services to Melbourne. Subsequently, the airport has had flights from

Air Pacific Fiji Airways (trading as and formerly known as Air Pacific) is the flag carrier airline of Fiji and operates international services from its hubs in Fiji to 13 countries and 26 cities including, Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, K ...

from

Nadi Nadi (pronounced ) is the third-largest conurbation in Fiji. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, and had a population of 42,284 at the most recent census, in 2007. A 2012 estimate showed that the population had ...

, Fiji.

Jetstar Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd, operating as Jetstar, is an Australian low-cost airline (self-described as "value-based") headquartered in Melbourne. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas, created in response to the threat posed by airline Virgi ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. Services to New Zealand increased as well, with Jetstar, Air New Zealand and Pacific Blue flying to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

Airnorth Capiteq Pty Limited, trading as Airnorth, is a regional airline based at Darwin International Airport in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. It operates scheduled and charter services in the Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Western ...

also started services to the airport from Darwin, via

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...

. In addition, Virgin Blue announced direct services from

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

and

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

. This opened up connections between all three QAL-owned airports –

and Gold Coast Airport. 2010 saw Jetstar announce the airport as its newest hub, increased services to

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

and new direct services to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

(discontinued in 2013) and Queenstown. Tiger Airways also announced their newest base at

Avalon Airport Avalon Airport is an international airport located in Avalon in the City of Greater Geelong in Victoria, Australia. While located outside the Melbourne metropolitan area, it is the second busiest of the four airports serving the state cap ...

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

, and said that services from Avalon to the Gold Coast would commence later in the year; however, services to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

would be cut due to delays in receiving new aircraft which were intended for their new Avalon base. On 26 October 2010, Gold Coast Airport was named the 2010 Major Airport of the Year 2010 by the Australian Airports Association (AAA). The Gold Coast Airport served as the official airport of the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

Infrastructure

GoldCoastAirportTerminalFromJetstarAirbus320

Gold Coast Airport - Terminal Expansion Trial on 30 Aug 2022 - 14

220830 Gold Coast Airport - Terminal Trial 20

It is anticipated that a railway station will be constructed at the airport if the Gold Coast line is extended. In 2008, the

Tugun Bypass The Tugun Bypass is a stretch of motorway-grade road, Bypass (road), bypassing through the suburb of on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia. The speed limit on the Tugun bypass is and provides a high-speed motorwa ...

opened and featured a tunnel under the

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

. The airport opened an extension to the main runway as well as a full-length parallel taxiway in May 2007. The runway will be long, allowing for heavier aircraft with greater range to

takeoff Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff. For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a t ...

. The final runway was confirmed as long in 2007, as says the plaque and photos of the 2006 runway length of 2042 m compared to the 2007 runway length of 2,492 m on the left wall of the arrivals southern exit. On 16 May 2007, the runway extension was officially inaugurated by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport,

Mark Vaile Mark Anthony James Vaile (born 18 April 1956) is a former deputy prime minister of Australia and former leader of the National Party of Australia. Vaile is currently a non-executive director of a number of public listed corporations. Early li ...

. Gold Coast Airport appointed ADCO Constructions as the principal design and construct contractor for a $100-million redevelopment of the airport's main terminal. Completed in 2010, the project doubled the size of the existing facility to almost , incorporating domestic and international operations with self-service kiosks and 40 common-user

check-in Check-in is the process whereby people announce their arrival at an office, hotel, airport, hospital, seaport or event. Office check-in Many offices have a reception or front office area near the entrance to greet or assist visitors arriving to a ...

desks. The works will accommodate forecast growth for the next 10 years with a further expansion, stage two, scheduled to kick in upon demand. The main terminal – Terminal 1 – currently houses operations for

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...

Virgin Australia Virgin Australia, the trading name of Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd, is an Australian-based airline. It is the largest airline by fleet size to use the Virgin Group, Virgin brand. It commenced services on 31 August 2000 as ''Virgin Blue ...

, Rex,

and

Scoot Scoot Pte Ltd, operating as Scoot, is a Singaporean low-cost airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. It began its operations on 4 June 2012 on medium and long-haul routes from Singapore, predominantly to various airports t ...

. Before moving to the main terminal, Tigerair flights previously operated from a low-cost terminal with basic amenities, located approximately from the main terminal building. Seair Pacific, a scheduled and charter airline based at Gold Coast Airport, operate from their own hangar in the general aviation part of the airport. An

Instrument Landing System In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

(ILS) was scheduled to be installed at the airport by June 2015 to enable planes to land during adverse weather conditions. It would be a

Required navigation performance Required navigation performance (RNP) is a type of performance-based navigation (PBN) that allows an aircraft to fly a specific path between two 3D-defined points in space. Navigation precision Area navigation (RNAV) and RNP systems are funda ...

(RNP) system rather than a traditional ILS as this would allow planes to cross the coast at

Currumbin Currumbin ( ) is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Currumbin had a population of 2,920 people. Geography The suburb extends from Currumbin Creek in the north to Wyberba Street in the south. The Pac ...

rather than Surfers Paradise and therefore fly over fewer houses. The proposed ILS had become an issue with residents concerned with noise. On 25 January 2016 the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development,

Warren Truss Warren Errol Truss, (born 8 October 1948) is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the Abbott Government and the Turnbull Governm ...

, approved the installation of an ILS at Gold Coast Airport. Due to Ground contamination that was found at the ILS location, it will not be able to be installed before the Gold Coast

Terminal Expansion

2016 saw the commencement of Project LIFT an approximate $300 million upgrade featuring two new wide-bodied aircraft stands and a three-level terminal development with four aerobridges and improved ground transport facilities. It enabled up to 19 additional aircraft to take off and touch down. In July 2019 work began on the 30,000 square metre southern terminal expansion. Infrastructure group Lendlease was appointed to deliver the project. By August 2022 much of the expansion work was complete and 400 volunteers participated in a mass trial at the Gold Coast Airport's new terminal on 30 August 2022.

Lounges

Gold Coast Airport has two airline lounges: one, operated by

, has been operational since 30 May 2012, and is available to business class passengers, Virgin Australia lounge members, and

Velocity Frequent Flyer Velocity is the frequent-flyer program of Virgin Australia Holdings. History Velocity was launched by Virgin Blue (later renamed Virgin Australia) in 2005 as Velocity Rewards, with partner National Australia Bank offering a companion credit card ...

Gold and Platinum members. A Qantas Club has been operational at the airport as of 3 December 2012, and is available to business class passengers, Qantas Club members, and

Qantas Frequent Flyer Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the List of airlines by foundation date, world's third-oldest airline sti ...

Gold and Platinum members.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate scheduled and in some cases chartered passenger flights from Gold Coast Airport. All passenger airlines operate flights from the main terminal (T1) with the exception of Seair Pacific, which operates from their own hangar in the general aviation part of the airport and Eastern Air Services which operates from the General Aviation apron.

Cargo

The following airlines operate scheduled cargo flights from Gold Coast Airport.

Qantas Freight Qantas Freight is a subsidiary company of Australia's largest airline Qantas, responsible for the air cargo operations of the Qantas group. It is the owner of freight airline Express Freighters Australia, freight forwarder Qantas Courier and tru ...

uses the cargo space of Jetstar aircraft to transport cargo domestically. It is also contracted for Jetstar international flights and Air New Zealand flights from the airport. It offers same day/overnight and standby services domestically airport to airport and airport to door from Gold Coast Airport. All cargo services operate from the Freight Terminal. Coast Cargo is a registered Cargo Terminal Operator (CTO) and currently handles

. It is also the agent for Toll Air Express.

Statistics

Public transportation

Road

The airport is located on the western side of the

Gold Coast Highway Gold Coast Highway links the coastal suburbs of the Gold Coast in south eastern Queensland such as Miami, Mermaid Beach, Tugun, Bilinga to the Tweed Heads suburb of Tweed Heads West in New South Wales. At in length, the highway runs jus ...

, the terminal is 300 metres from the highway. The Gold Coast Highway passes through all the coastal suburbs of the city and is the most direct route to most of the major holiday destinations on the Gold Coast. The Pacific Motorway (M1) interchange is 1.5 km south of the airport. The Pacific Motorway connects the city to northern New South Wales, western suburbs and Brisbane City.

Public bus

All bus services are provided by Surfside Buslines. *Route 777 (northbound) -

Broadbeach South light rail station Broadbeach South light rail station is a major public transport hub in the Gold Coast suburb of Broadbeach. The station opened in July 2014 as the southern terminus of the G:link light rail line. Surfside Buslines operate an extensive bus s ...

via Gold Coast Highway. This service is a limited stop, express service only. From there, passengers can connect to other bus services and the G:link. *760 (northbound) -

Robina Town Centre Robina Town Centre is the second largest shopping center on the Gold Coast, Australia after the recently redeveloped Pacific Fair, covering in the suburb of Robina, with seven anchor tenants and over 400 retail outlets covering over . Hi ...

via

Varsity Lakes railway station Varsity Lakes railway station is located on the Gold Coast line in Queensland, Australia. It serves the Gold Coast suburb of Varsity Lakes. History Varsity Lakes station opened on 13 December 2009 as the terminal station of the Gold Coast li ...

and The Pines Shopping Centre. *Route 760 (north & southbound) -

Tweed Heads Tweed Heads is a town in New South Wales. It is located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Tweed Shire, next to the border with Queensland and adjacent to its "twin town" of Coolangatta, which is a suburb of the ...

via Kirra and Coolangatta.

Airport shuttles

There are a number of private operators offering transfers between Gold Coast Airport and Brisbane. Scheduled transfers are available for arriving and departing passengers.

Train

The Gold Coast City Transport Strategy 2031 includes an extension of the G:link light rail to the airport, while the

South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program The South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program 2010–2031 (SEQIPP) is produced by the Queensland Department of Infrastructure and Planning and outlines estimated infrastructure investment across South East Queensland Australia to 2031. ...

envisions extending the Gold Coast Line train line to the airport as well. As of 2019, neither has been approved to begin construction.

Accidents and incidents

In March 1949, a

Lockheed Lodestar The Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar is a passenger transport aircraft of the World War II era. Design and development Sales of the 10–14 passenger Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra, which first flew in 1937, had proved disappointing, despite the ai ...

aircraft became airborne at Bilinga airstrip for a flight to

Archerfield Airport Archerfield can refer to: *Archerfield, Queensland Archerfield is a mixed-use southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Archerfield had a population of 544 people. Geography Archerfield is bounded by Oxley Cree ...

. Before reaching a height of it stalled and crashed. All 21 occupants died in the crash or the ensuing

conflagration A conflagration is a large fire. Conflagrations often damage human life, animal life, health, and/or property. A conflagration can begin accidentally, be naturally caused (wildfire), or intentionally created (arson). A very large fire can produc ...

. It was Queensland's worst civil aviation accident.

Awards

The Gold Coast airport received the best airport award for customer experience at the 2018 National Airport Industry Awards hosted by the Australian Airports Association in

References

External links

Official website
{{Gold Coast Landmarks Airports established in 1939 Airports in Queensland Buildings and structures on the Gold Coast, Queensland Transport on the Gold Coast, Queensland 1939 establishments in Australia Tourism on the Gold Coast, Queensland International airports in Australia