PT World | January 2026
12 Dec 2025
Perth Airport (PER) has laid out ambitious plans for a “once in a generation” construction program, said to be the largest private investment in infrastructure in the city’s history.
PROJECT: new terminal
LOCATION: Perth, western Australia
COMPLETION DATE: 2031
COST: A$5bn
Terminal 2 (T2) will double in capacity, and there will be a new airport-wide terminal precinct conceived as a “smart” New Terminal, a parallel runway and the airport’s first hotel – all underpinned, the airport says, by strong sustainability and community commitments.
For passengers using the regional airline gates today, change is already underway. On October 24, 2025, Perth Airport confirmed that works had begun on a major expansion and upgrade of T2. The package, part of a multibillion-dollar investment plan set out in the Master Plan 2026, includes new self-service check-in facilities, an enlarged passenger screening hall and departure lounge, an extension to the baggage make-up hall, and design work to upgrade the southern passenger walkway.
The New Terminal project (T1) – currently at the preliminary draft major development plan (MDP) stage – will expand T1 international facilities and construct a new domestic terminal that will link smoothly with the existing Terminal 1. The works will span roughly 790,000m2 and include aprons, taxiways, multiple aircraft ramp systems, aerobridges and associated fuel and logistics infrastructure.
Perth Airport has published a staged timeline for the New Terminal: concept design in 2025; procurement and tender activity by 2027; early works and final for-construction design in 2028; then earthworks and continued construction leading to operational readiness and a target opening around 2031 – subject to airline agreements and final scheduling.
The airport has also flagged that work on the 3,000m parallel new runway is already scheduled to deliver operational capability by 2028, a key enabler for the growing traffic the New Terminal is intended to handle.
