Latest Mackay Airport News

Paid car parking will help fund new airport facilities

Mackay's busy airport

People are being given temporary access to new car parking facilities in a bid to ease congestion at Mackay's busy airport.

The Mackay Port Authority is investing more than $3 million into new facilities that will pave the way for the introduction of paid car parking at the airport next month.

Revenue raised from parking will be channelled back into additional terminal and car parking upgrades. It would also help fund plans to extend the main runway to cater for bigger aircraft to carry full pay loads to new potential ports such as Melbourne and Adelaide.

Mackay Airport general manager Trevor Heard said visitors were taking full advantage of the new sealed parking area that had provided an additional 170 bays.

But Mr Heard appealed to visitors to use extra care during the coming installation works for the new car parking operating system.

We had planned to keep the car park closed until the new paid system comes on line later next month, but it’s clear that these facilities are urgently needed now, he said.

Mr Heard said the paid parking regime would segregate parking into three precincts covering short term, long term and covered parking.

He said parking fees had been benchmarked against other regional and capital city airports.

Fees for short term parking at the front of the airport terminal would range from $2 for the first 30 minutes up to a maximum of $20 a day.

The long term car park would carry a flat fee of $12 a day and fees for covered car parking would range from $18 for the first day, decreasing a dollar a day to $14 for extended stays of five days or more.

Mr Heard hoped the new paid system would defuse complaints about people leaving their vehicles close of the terminal for extended periods.

Motorists will pay a premium price for parking close to the terminal, he said. Our goal is to help ease congestion and push extended stay vehicles to the long term car park.

The new parking system would still allow people to drop passengers at the curb side at the front of the terminal free of charge.

Mr Heard said Mackay Airport was experiencing on-going growth with more than 656 000 passengers passing through the airport terminal last financial year- an increase of more than 13 per cent on the previous record year.

It's important we are in a position to fund better facilities to meet the demands and expectations of our customers and stakeholders, he said.

Mr Heard said redevelopment work on the security departure lounge was on-target for completion later this year.

The $2 million plus project would increase seating capacity and provide travellers with additional toilet facilities and a kiosk.