Massive terminal upgrades to Port Hedland International Airport are set to revolutionise regional travel

The massive upgrades and new gadgets at the Port Hedland International Airport have been unveiled and are set to revolutionise travel to and from the Pilbara. In an exclusive interview with the North West Telegraph, PHIA chief executive Dave Batic revealed how the improved terminal building would expand regional travel. The upgrades include a check-in site that has doubled in size and now contains cloud-based services, an expanded security area to improve screening efficiency, four dedicated departure gates instead of two, upgrades to back-of-house bag security technology, 10 parking bays for 737 planes, a new cafe and space for additional retail stores. Mr Batic said the massive upgrades would encourage airlines to expand flights to the airport. “What we have now is an airport that is fit for the future and rapid growth,” he said. “In the last 12 months, we have broken all the records for passengers and we have seen the facility come to fruition and it’s making flying through Port Hedland a lot easier. “We are working very closely with airlines and the Town of Port Hedland to increase our aviation developments and destinations. “We can show and prove we can handle more aircraft and passengers that satisfy the airline’s requirements.” The Town of Port Hedland recently announced it would provide incentivised funding to encourage airlines to provide new connections to the airport. With flights to Brisbane now re-established, Mr Batic said the PHIA would continue to pursue flights to Bali. He said the airport would also target flights to Melbourne in the future. “The capacity for this airport to grow is almost unlimited,” Mr Batic said. “We can handle almost a million passengers per year now. “Our vision is to be the leading regional airport in Australia and we are working with the resource sector to increase their throughput.” With the new cloud-based check-in technology, Mr Batic said they had proposed to resource companies to have their workers check-in for flights at mining camps. He also said they had proposed a mechanism for FIFO workers to be able to retrieve checked-bag tags at mining camps to streamline airport processing. Mr Batic said these developments and the airport’s expansion had been a long time in the making. “Back in 2015 and 2016, the Town of Port Hedland decided to lease the airport for a 50-year period which is a decision I believe the council took wisely because it is very expensive to run an airport,” he said. “As part of the negotiation for the lease, the entity had to invest in the airport, upgrade the terminal and upgrade the landside (facilities). “There was a commitment to spend at least $40 million in capital and we now have spent more than $90 million of capital.” All the funds for the expansion have come from private investment. Mr Batic said it was unique not to have State or Federal government support for an airport expansion and it would be needed to re-establish Bali flights. “To establish flights we always need three levels of government support,” Mr Batic said. “We now have local government support with the Town funding agreement, which is fantastic. “We still don’t see direct support from Tourism WA and we really want to work with the WA Government. “The Premier is over in Indonesia talking to Garuda and Batik airlines and we are hoping Port Hedland is in that conversation and it should be — we are the second international airport in WA but we have no international passenger flights.” Mr Batic said a major holdup in bringing back Bali flights was getting Australian Border Force at the airport. “We do have airlines that want to start Bali services but they can’t make it commercially viable because of the Australian Border Force and the costs,” he said. “We are quite open about it, they have quoted us $17,000 per flight which for an airline is just not sustainable so we need to reduce those costs.” Construction of the expanded terminal began in March 2022. Mr Batic said negotiations were ongoing on adding an additional Qantas lounge on the site. He said the lounge was already designed and would be an additional 300sqm building connected to the terminal. Passengers can provide feedback on the airport’s changes and what other additions they would like to see on computers in the terminal. Mr Batic said a lot of passengers wanted more food options which the airport had the ability to deliver. “We are working with the cafe to improve their offerings to include more fresh food and more options,” he said. “We’ve got more commercial space for places in the terminal and we know currently there is a lack of food, gifts and books.” Mr Batic said the feedback terminals also asked passengers what entertainment options they would like in the building. The official opening date for the new terminal is September 22.