Gold Coast airport to extend runway

Coast Airport plans to adjust runway

Lucy Ardern | September 8th, 2011

JUST days after it was revealed China Southern Airlines could not fly to the Gold Coast because the city's runway was too short, the airport has released plans which appear to resolve the issue.

The Gold Coast Airport will this morning unveil plans to relocate the landing threshold on runway 32 by about 310 metres to the south, which would allow planes to make use of the full runway length.

The details are part of the 2011 preliminary draft master plan for the airport, which would see the runaway change occur in the next five years.

China Southern Airlines had hoped to launch direct flights from Guangzhou by 2015, but this week explained the airport could not cater for its Boeing 777 aircraft.

The master plan also shows that the Gold Coast Airport is expecting a heavy rail link to be built in the future to drop passengers at its door and for improved road access to the airport.

Gold Coast Airport has also detailed that it plans to make way for more aviation businesses to set up at the airport, while before it was nominated as a general business park.