Qantas Wants International And Domestic Terminals Together At Sydney Airport

Qantas has proposed ambitious plans for a mega terminal at Sydney Airport, consolidating all domestic and international flights into one facility.

If built, the new terminal would serve international flights from Qantas and its Oneworld members and Emirates, freeing up space at the existing T1 international terminal for other airlines.

CEO Alan Joyce has said that Qantas is willing to invest significantly in the new terminal, including lounges, as part of the company’s recently announced worldwide makeover.

Monday night, when addressing the American Chamber of Commerce in Sydney, Joyce stated, “There is a future that we have in mind, and we’re talking to Sydney Airport about it.”

For us, the major problem is that the domestic and international terminals are separated. Joyce added that “connecting domestically would be a lot simpler than it is now,” referring to the existing “painful” system of shuttle bus transfers between Terminals 1 and 3.

They would have to build a new international terminal for Qantas and its partners, which would require expanding into the space now occupied by the domestic terminal.

“After consulting with stakeholders and the community, our idea has evolved from being an alliance concept to one that takes into account specific airline needs and (passenger) transfer patterns,” Sydney Airport said of their decision to abandon their “2033 master plan.”

The new “2039 master plan” instead indicates that the T1 terminal will remain the same, while T2 and T3 will be modernised to combine international, domestic, and regional operations.