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Perth Airport

Perth Airport has been the major focus of civil aviation in Western Australia for the past 50years - almost since the day in May 1944 when an Australian National Airways DC-3 took offfrom what was still a RAAF base for Adelaide and, weeks later on June 17, a converted WorldWar 2 bomber left Perth on the inaugural Qantas Empire Airways Kangaroo Service flight toCeylon. It was still known then as Guildford Aerodrome, the name which was used until beingofficially renamed Perth International Airport in 1952.

Perth Airport grew out of necessity. By the late 1930's it became clear that the then main

civilian airfield at Maylands, which had operated since 1924, was severely limited in its abilityto expand and handle bigger, faster aircraft and the burgeoning air traffic. But the secondWorld War intervened just a year after the land was bought in 1938 (on the site of the formerDunreath golf course at Guildford). The facility was re-designated for military purposes andwas subsequently used by a number of RAAF squadrons and the US Navy, mostly as atemporary base. Only No.85 Squadron was based there permanently. Pearce was already theheadquarters and main operational base of the RAAF Western Australia. Intervention of thewar meant the changeover of civilian services from Maylands to Guildford did not get fully intoswing until 1946, even though ANA and Qantas began services from there in 1944. The delayalso prolonged the life of Maylands which still operated, albeit on a different and dwindlingscale, until ultimate closure on June 30, 1963. The next day the new, secondary airport atJandakot was officially opened.

Maylands Airfield, 1930

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There is no fully recorded, sequential account of Perth's Airport's development over the years.Official information is scant and difficult to obtain. Some records of certain aspects of itshistory are available but then, mostly in isolation.

This brief history of the airport draws upon the memories and records of people who were apart of its story - including former pilots, engineers and managers- and others who have aspecial interest in aviation history in Western Australia.

The Early Days

The story of Perth Airport should be viewed against the background of a state which, becauseof its size, had become accustomed to internal air travel since the early days of flying. Indeed,Western Australia can claim to be the true birthplace of civil aviation in Australia. It was wherein 1911 the first significant flight in Australia took place, and it had the earliest and largest civilaviation network of any State.

In the thirties, three airlines operated substantial services in WA, all based at Maylands. Thefirst, the late Sir Norman Brearley's West Australian Airways, began a North West coastal

service in 1921, which it continued until the route was won by Horrie Miller's MacRobertsonMiller Aviation Co. In 1934 WA Airways also inaugurated the first interstate Perth-Adelaideservice in 1929. The third operator, Airlines (WA) Ltd, founded by Captain C.W Snook in1935, flew a service from Perth through the Goldfields.

Joseph Hammond in his Bristol Boxkite, at Belmont. 1911 - first significantflight in Australia.

Over the years a series of takeovers and mergers between existing airlines and lateroperators, including Australian National Airways, led to the ultimate expansion of the giant

Ansett organisation, which began in Western Australia more than 70 years ago.

Years before planes took off from Guildford, WA was networked with outback airstripsproviding the essential links where adequate road systems were still built. From 1934 throughto the mid-1950s, MMA flew to more than 150 registered outback airstrips. Today its modernsuccessor, Ansett WA, services 11 airports in WA country regions.

The two other airlines to operate from Maylands were West Australian Airways and Airlines(WA) Ltd. Maylands was also the base of the Royal Aero Club and all other non-military flightoperations in Perth. The club moved its activities to Perth Airport in April 1959, where itstayed for six years before relocating to Jandakot.

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North West Airmail leaving Perth, 1928.

From 1934 when the hiltherto Adelaide-based Horrie Miller won the license to operate onNorth West routes, MMA became by far the biggest operator in WA. Six De HavillandDragons (DH 84's) were the mainstay of its early fleet and it provided various internalservices, the first being a Perth-Daly Waters service once a fortnight via Carnarvon, Onslow,Roebourne, Whim Creek, Port Hedland and Broom. The Perth return journey took eight days.The Dragon was a twin engine bi-plane carrying eight passengers and a crew of one - thepilot. Its air-speed was around 130 kilometers an hour and it put down at 40 ports en route.

The northern service was upgraded and extended to Darwin in 1938 with the introduction oftwo 210 km an hour, could reach Darwin in two days, connecting with the international airmailservice from Sydney to London.

Meanwhile, in the early 1930's there was also a weekly interstate service between Perth and Adelaide, operated since 1929 by West Australian Airways flying De Havilland Hercules(DH66 and then Vickers Viastra aircraft. The service was upgraded to DC-2's in 1936, whenthe airline was absorbed by Australian National Airways (ANA), formed in 1931 by an

Adelaide - based consortium which included Holyman's Airways, Adelaide Airways and Airlines of Australia. ANA was taken over by Ansett in 1957. The third operator, Airlines (WA)Ltd., flew internal services mostly from Perth through the Goldfields, taking in Mount Magnet,Cue, Meekatharra, Wiluna, Leonara and Kalgoorlie, using a mix of small planes with romanticnames like the Stinson Reliant, Spartan Cruiser and Monospar.

Dunreath - the golf club that became an airport.

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The pre-war years saw Maylands at its height as Perth's only airfield for all civil flying.Somewhat ironically, part of the peninsula where so many different types of aircraft took offand landed for 40 years has today reverted to a new public golf course.

The large hangars now occupied by WA Police Force are the remaining visible reminders ofthose years, the grey ghosts of a time before.

The War Years

From early 1942 to the end of the World War 2 in 1945, the land now occupied by Perth Airport was a RAAF base (officially No 77 Operational Base Unit) under the Air OfficerCommanding Western Area, Air Commodore Ray Brownell.

While an initial 910 hectares had been bought in 1938 and the area surveyed the followingyear, construction of the runways had not been completed by the time the first squadron, No77, moved in from Pearce in mid-April 1942. This Kittyhawk squadron was to form Perth'smain air defence assisted by the Pearce-based No. 25 Squadron, flying Wirraways.

This arrangement was comparatively short-lived. Within four months, No. 77 Squadron wasposted to Battler in the Northern Territory, later serving in Papua-New Guinea, Morotai andBorneo.

A Boomerang in flight, 1944, flown by Flight Lieutenant A W B Clare.

Two other RAAF squadrons - No 85 and No 35(T) - along with some land planes from the USNavy's Fleet Air Wing Ten (a Catalina group based at Crawley), were to form the morepermanent basis of air force operations at Dunreath No 35 Squadron, a Dakota transport unitwhich ferried fresh food and other supplies to Northern coastal and outback RAAF basessuch as Noonkanbah, Derby, Broome and Corunna, remained at Guildford from March 1943until early the following year when it was relocated at Townsville.

Former No 35 Squadron engineer Charles Cope remembers Guildford in 1943 as a "lump ofbush with a strip in the middle". The first runway was built for RAAF fighters by the WA MainRoads Department in 1943, a second strip being put down a year later. Apart from two privatehomes which are still there today near Faunterloy Avenue, there are a few other permanentbuildings. One of the houses, "Tampina" became the sergeants' mess and the other,"Weddeburn", the officers' mess. Initial headquarters for the RAAF were in the nearby smallclubhouse of the former Dunreath golf course. Over the next two years, temporary hangars

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and staff accommodation went up as required. During the early days of 1943 there were stillsome market gardens on airport land. Indeed one Italian market gardeners' house had to bepulled down to force the owner to move. Another gardener continued to supply No 85Squadron with vegetables until a control tower was built in the middle of his garden plot.

While the airport was heavily guarded military base, its essential purpose was to be the mainbase for the immediate fighter defense of Perth and as a temporary facility for squadronseither in transit of being deployed to war zones. Some months after No 77 Squadron wasposted to the north, No. 85 Squadron assumed the role of main aerial defence for Perth.

No. 77 Squadron Kittyhawks over Perth in 1942.

Pearce was the only permanent RAAF base in Western Australia, having been constructed in1983 in response to many requests that the RAAF should have a continuous presence in theState. When was broke out it had two squadrons- No 14, a General Reconnaissance unitinitially flying Ansons, then Hudsons and No 25, a General Purpose squadron with HawkerDemons, Wirraways and Vultee Vegeances. Ultimately, the squadron had B-24 Liberatorheavy bombers, which its crews flew in 1945 from their Cunderin base against the Japanesein the Netherlands East Indies, staging through Truscott, Corunna Downs and Learmonth.

No.85 Squadron began forming at Perth Airport in 1943, just a year before the start of the firstcivilian services. Former Squadron engineer Alan Mitchell (then a Flight Sergeant) recallslanding in a C-47 (Dakota) at Guildford with 23 ground staff on April 30, along with 11Boomerang interceptor fighters which were to constitute half the fighting armory of the newsquadron base at Strathpines, in Queensland. The next morning they took off again, this timefor Exmouth Gulf (code-named "Potshot") to establish a separate detachment at no 76Operational Base Unit at Learmonth airstrip. This detachment returned six months later torejoin the main body of the squadron at Guildford. At its peak the squadron had more than300 personnel.

A number of pilots were killed or injured in flying accidents at Guilford mostly in Boomerangfighters which, Mitchell recalls, had some "nasty habits". He says: "They could climb well,were not as fast as Spitfires or Kitty Hawkes, but had a tendency to swing on take-off andlanding." The squadron later re-equipped with Spitfires.

Guildford Airport was the focus of a major "scare" in March 1944, when Allied intelligencereports were interpreted to indicate that a Japanese Navy carrier force was on its way into theIndian Ocean, with the intent of attacking Fremantle and Perth.

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The raid did not eventuate.

The burnt-out wreck of a Boomerang at Guildford. Many crashed there.

WA military historian Lindsay Peet says: "The whole emergency turned out to be a falsealarm. Official records do not show any authenticated visual sighting of Japanese ships, nearthe WA coast." On March 20, three days after the air raid sirens had sounded in Perth, allaircraft were allowed to return to their respective bases.

Qantas, ANA Move In

By 1944 Maylands had become almost hopelessly inadequate for the larger commercialaircraft being built and the Government agreed to allow ANA and Qantas to operate fromGuildford. ANA had been flying DC-3s out of Maylands on the long haul to Adelaide withincreasing difficulty; the grass airfield was small, hemmed in by industrial chimney stacks, andthere were no proper passenger facilities. The decision was reached despite continued, bitterobjections from RAAF authorities who argued that a civilian operation would undermine theairport's camouflage and defence capability.

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Perth Airport in the early 1950's.

The first commercial flight from Guildford was by an ANA DC-3 in May that year. Thefollowing month, on June 17, a modified Liberator bomber of Qantas Empire Airways took offon its inaugural Kangaroo Service flight from Guildford to Ceylon via Exmouth - a link whichled to the resumption of a much improved airmail service between England and Australia twomonths later.

Two Liberators had been released by the British Government to establish the new service, thefirst arriving in Perth on June 3, 1944, just three days before the Allied invasion of Normandy.Two more Liberators joined the service in 1945 and 1946.

The new land-borne air service of some 20 hours' flying time supplemented the non-stop, 27-hour Catalina flying boat service from Matilda Bay to Ceylon which began in 1943. All theaircraft were modified at QEA's Archerfield workshops in Queensland to provide extra spacefor passengers and for mail (in what had been the bomb-bays). The Liberators were then ableto carry 15 passengers and a crew of five, giving the aircraft a payload of 5,500 Lbs. - fivetimes that of the Catalinas.

Even though this was the first regular overseas service from Guildford, Perth Airport was notto be given official international status for another eight years when, in 1952, Qantas beganits Constellation service from Sydney to South Africa via Western Australia.

A Qantas Empire Airways converted Liberator used on Perth-Ceylon service.

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Early in 1946 Perth Airport, or Guildford Aerodrome as it was still known, was a basic airfield -plenty of open space with a rather unobtrusive control tower and a scatter of tin corrugatedbuildings and hangars, the vestiges of wartime operation. This was visibly enhanced by theinventory of military vehicles inherited by the Department of Civil Aviation - an assortment ofused vehicles including "Blitz" wagons, Dodge command cars and weapon carriers, largetrucks and various makes of fire tenders, jeeps and ambulances.

ANA operated from a hangar, from where travellers would walk out on the tarmac to board a28 passenger DC 3, destined for Adelaide, via Kalgoorlie, Forrest and Ceduna; terminalpassenger facilities were practically non-existent and boarding an aircraft was a bit like gettingon a bus. MMA had yet to relocate from Maylands, which it did in 1948. The Qantas Liberatorservice through Perth to Ceylon was soon to be terminated in favour of a resumed Sydney -UK link via Darwin.

Nevertheless, competition for ANA was not far away. On December 2 that year the newlyformed Government nation airline, Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA), made its first Melbourne-

Adelaide-Perth night flight, thus sowing the seeds of the so-called "two-airline system" ofscheduled parallel flights. The introduction of the faster and larger DC 4 Skymasters by TAA(followed in January 1949 by ANA) cut the previous flying time to some nine hours by goingdirect from Perth to Adelaide, then on to Melbourne where Sydney travellers stayedovernight). Both airlines operated one interstate flight a night, carrying a full load of 44passengers each. The aircraft would arrive at Guildford around 7.30pm each day, refuel andthen take off again, one after the other, 90 minutes later.

An MMA DC-3 in 1967 in front of the old control tower which was phased out in 1986.

Now-retired senior executive David Bennett joined TAA at the outset to head the airline'scommercial development and operations in Perth. A former RAAF test pilot with a backgroundin private enterprise, he recalls: "In 1946 aviation was for the few. Indeed, we were shockedto find through surveys that many of the people we were carrying were the same people overand over again. So the main reason for night flights on the long haul was for better utilisationof aircraft Australia-wide, allowing the daytime use of the same aircraft between ports on theeastern seaboard."

However, the necessity to complement the night schedule with an increasing number of"special" flights, using DC4s supplemented by DC 3s, gradually led to daytime services.

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The way we were - boarding a DC-3 soon after the war.

Says Bennett: "Both airlines began to ask questions to test customer reaction. We foundbusiness people preferred to travel at around 1 pm. During those first 10 years aircraftbecame so much faster, starting with the DC-6B and Viscount operations in the mid-1950s,that the night flights virtually became a 'no-no'. So we moved into day operations with'specials' at night."

Immediately after the war both airlines played a significant role in developing eastern Statesmarkets for local producers and manufacturers. As David Bennett recalls, "there was virtuallyno road transport across the Nullabor in 1946, and Perth Airport became the scene of verybusy cargo operations." A great variety of market garden produce and fish and bulkmanufactured goods were air-freighted from Perth. TAA also took the initiative by introducinga "freight collect" service for manufactured goods moving from the eastern seaboard to Perth,which David Bennett originated.

Meanwhile in 1955, when Airlines (WA) Ltd. Merged with MMA, it was still flying DC-3s, five ofwhich serviced the North West route to Darwin.

Reg Adkins, an MMA pilot who logged 21,000 hours' flying with the airline in 31 years, recallsthat most of the post-war captains were ex-wartime pilots who had "been used to flying bythemselves" and were reluctant to share the responsibility with first officers. Says Adkins: "Wewere a fairly tight-knit little group in those days and, as you gradually got to know them, theyrealised you needed the experience and began to share the take-offs and landings."

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The scene inside the international-domestic terminal built in 1962.

Meals on the DC-3 were still a far cry from the haute cuisine standards of today. There wereno heating facilities, buffets or galleys on the DC-3s, so cold lunches and dinners were thenorm. Adkins remembers that breakfast was probably the most memorable meal, becausesometimes it included boiled eggs - cooked by an air hostess during a brief port stop - andserved with cereals, fresh fruit and fresh bread. "Over the years I had some very favourablereports on the MMA breakfast," he said.

On December 28, 1959, MMA moved from the DC-3 into the turbo-prop era when itintroduced Fokker Friendships (F-27s) to the North West service. "It was a quantum leap",says Reg Adkins. "We went from a 28-seater to a 36-seater, air-conditioned and pressurized,flying at 220 knots." Ten years later MMA introduced the first pure-jet Fokker Fellowships (F-28s) and another quantum leap for the airline, doubling the capacity and speed of itspredecessor.

Pure-jet aircraft had already been introduced on interstate routes, beginning with the Boeing727 in 1964 and the DC-9 in 1967. This boosted services in and out of Perth Airport to four aday, with two lunchtime flights and two at night. Ironically, it was the arrival of the 727 whichgave birth to what is still called today either "the midnight horror" or "red-eye special". Thesubstantial distance and time difference between Perth and the eastern States capitals, plusthe fact that only Perth Airport operated without aircraft curfews, meant that there wasnowhere else in the country to fly except from Perth between 11pm and 6am.

Perth Airport experienced the full effect of the aviation revolution. As the aircraft grew larger,

faster an more sophisticated, so the facilities moved to accommodate the burgeoningdemand. While by the mid-1950s still less than 8 per cent of the Australian population hadever flown, the market-place was changing rapidly and broadening its base beyond thebusiness and professional clientele. Words like "tours" and "holidays" began to creep into themarketing of air travel. Recalls David Bennett: "It was not until the end of the 1950s that TAAdeveloped a holiday-travel department, as did Ansett. From then on it was essential for us todirect our efforts increasingly at the general public. It was about the first time the word 'tourist'was bandied about."

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The outdoor entry with its black Swans was a familiar sight fordisembarking passengers at Perth Airport for many years.

The 1960s heralded many big changes at Perth Airport. By 1962, the main domestic airlineswere able to move out of the hangars they had occupied into the first combined domestic andinternational terminal, which had been built in time to handle the peak traffic generated by thePerth Commonwealth Games. The terminal was opened by the Minister for Civil Aviation,Senator Shane Paldridge.

Passenger numbers were rising rapidly from 16 years earlier when aircraft and seat capacityallowed at most 176 people to fly in and out of Perth on four daily interstate services,averaging 64,000 interstate passengers a year. By today's standards those figures lookalmost insignificant, considering the 1.6 million interstate travellers through Perth Airport in

1993.

Guildford Aerodrome officially changed its status and name to Perth International Airport inSeptember, 1952, with the departure of Qantas Constellation "Charles Kingsford Smith" (VH-EAD), for Cocos Island. This was the inaugural flight from Sydney to South Africa of theWallaby Service. The official ceremony was conducted on the apron at the front of theconverted Bellman hangar which served as the TAA passenger terminal. A new internationalterminal, built from the steel structure and cladding of American-built military quonsetbuildings shipped from Manus Island, was not ready in time for the occasion, at which theMinister for Civil Aviation, Hubert Anthony, officiated.

In Perth the aircraft was loaded with fresh and frozen food for Cocos. It then flew on toMauritius and Johannesburg, arriving there on September 4. The flight took 39 hours and 17minutes. Eight years later the quonset building was dismantled and became a familiarlandmark known as "the Alco building" when re-erected for commercial use in the Perthsuburb of Cannington. Its disappearance made way for the new 1962 combined domestic andinternational facility which, itself, was periodically modified and expanded.

Introduction of the jetliner in the 1960s was a major advance in civil aviation, both forinternational and domestic operators. Because of Perth's isolation and long distance fromoverseas capitals, the Boeing 707 had a big impact on Perth. The initial changeover by a fewairlines to 707s from piston-engined planes was quickly taken up by all airlines using this typeof aircraft. The 707 slashed flying times dramatically, bringing distant cities like Singaporewithin five hours' travel time from Perth.

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Perth Airport's main terminal - the first ground-level view of Perth for many visitors between 1962 and 1986.

Jet services also slashed flying times internally for the people of Perth, the world's mostdistant capital city, providing enhanced passenger comfort on domestic services to and withinWestern Australia. The two domestic airlines, Ansett-ANA and TAA, introduced Boeing 727services between Perth and the eastern States in late 1964, while MMA began its jet servicesfrom Perth to regional centres in September 1969.

By the 1970s the Boeing 747 had arrived, bringing yet another huge step forward ininternational jet travel. The "Jumbo" more than doubled the seating capacity of previous

jetliners and, because of its better operating costs and capacity ushered in the era of cheaperinternational travel - and mass international tourism.

By the time Qantas flew the first Boeing 747 to Perth on September 3, 1971, facilities at Perth Airport were already battling to cope with the rapid increase in domestic and overseas traffic.In November 1980, the Federal Transport Minister, Ralph Hunt, announced a newinternational terminal would be built in Perth at a cost of $26 million.

On October 25, 1986 Prime Minister Bob Hawke unveiled the impressive internationalterminal complex on the eastern side of the airport, complete with a new control tower whichfor several years was the tallest in Australia. The terminal received its first passengers twodays after being officially opened.

Since then the domestic terminals have undergone major rebuilding although all domesticoperations - except for the new defunct Compass Airlines which operated from temporaryquarters at the international terminal - have remained on the 1962 site

The Modern Airport

In 1993, more than 3.3 million passengers used Perth Airport to travel on intrastate, interstateand international flights - roughly twice the total population of Western Australia. Almost

23,000 movements were shared by four domestic and 14 international airline operators.

This, against the comparative handful of people and aircraft using the fledgling airport in 1946- including the 176 interstate passengers who flew in and out of Perth every day indicateshow far and how fast Perth Airport has grown since it was an aerodrome with two runwaysand a few hangars set in scrubby bushland.

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The supersonic Concorde atPerth International Airport - its first visit was in 1985.

Today, Perth Airport is regarded as one of the most efficient airports in Australia, even whencompared with its much bigger counterparts in Sydney an Melbourne. Perth Airport's servicesand speedy "processing" of passengers through the international terminal are the envy ofother airports around the nation, as is its performance in developing as a commercially self-financing entity.

Aesthetically, the lay-out of the airport and the design of its domestic and internationalterminal facilities are pleasing and welcoming. More than 80,000 trees and shrubs planted inrecent years are part of an ongoing program to provide a garden setting for airport visitors

and passengers. Interiors are continually spruced up or replaced to avoid the shabby lookmany airports acquire without adequate attention to maintenance. As the earlier pagesdescribe, the metamorphosis of Perth Airport was a gradual one, based on fast-increasingneed. However, the most dramatic changes have been generated in the last eight years - withthe building of the $60 million international terminal in 1986, the formation of Federal AirportsCorporation (FAC) in 1988 as manager of the airport, and the subsequent construction ofoutstanding new terminals for the major domestic operators, Australian Airlines (now Qantas)and Ansett.

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Qantas' impressive ground level interior of its domestic terminal at Perth Airport.

FAC is responsible for the maintenance of the buildings, runways, taxiways, aircraft apronand all surrounding areas of the airport. The corporation employs some 107 people at Perth

Airport, including engineers and surveyors, mechanics and electricians, safety and securitystaff and administrative personnel, as well as gardeners, car park attendants, cleaners anddrafting and building staff. FAC has a commitment to maintaining first-class supportivefacilities and services for everyone using the airport, not least the airline operators andconcessions leasing their working areas from the corporation.

In its comparatively short existence FAC has been responsible for turning Perth Airport into a

viable and progressive enterprise, which was an important element of its charter when it tookover the responsibility from the Department of Transport in 1988. The corporation is agovernment business enterprise which does not receive Commonwealth funding and has topay its own way based on commercial performance to sustain its development. Very soonafter taking over Perth Airport, the FAC turned it from a loss-making operation to a profitableone.

It achieved this by implementing business strategies more normally associated with privateenterprise - a combination of internal efficiencies and innovative commercial undertakings.Today, 70 per cent of Perth Airport's revenue comes from non-aeronautical activities. Itsoperation affects the livelihoods of 25,000 Western Australians, either directly or indirectly,and contributes more than a $1 billion to the State's economy each year.

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An international airliner takes off from Perth Airport, leaving the City behind it.

The development of Perth Airport reflects the commercial edge of FAC's philosophy that anairport can be much more than a transport facility. This is well illustrated by the leasearrangement with Perth Mint whereby the mint built a major gold-refinery on airport land,strategically placed for the air-shipment of its products.

Two years ago FAC established an information and technology exchange programme withIndonesian airport authorities, allowing Perth Airport to be closely involved in some of themore exciting developments in Indonesia. It is this sort of initiative which Perth AirportGeneral Manager, Graham Muir, believes may enhance Western Australia's prospects ofinvolvement in the fast-growing area of aviation services and airport development in South-East Asia. Long-range plans are already in hand to establish airport-based aerospaceindustries.

The Bay 57 Cocktail Lounge at Perth International. Facilities are upgraded regularly to maintain first-class standards.

Meanwhile, the international terminal is the focal point of airport development because of themore complex nature of its role. The large, curved building was designed to handle allinternational passenger traffic well into the next century and, while some extensions havealready been made, there is ample provision for more. The terminal was developed on three

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main levels to achieve the degree of separation between arriving and departing passengersnecessary to meet customs, quarantine and security requirements.

It can handle two departing, two arriving and one transiting Boeing 747s simultaneously inone hour. The generous provision of counters and customs-immigration desks in each areaallows for up to 750 departing and 1,110 arriving passengers to be checked through in onehour.

Retail shops on the mezzanine floor of the international terminal offer visitors a tempting range of local quality products.

The ground floor and mezzanine level of the public area of the terminal have been designedto facilitate access and movement in busy periods, as well as minimise luggage-carrying, withtrolleys available free of charge. Retail shops have been selected for their range and qualityof local produce and goods, among them the only Gold Shop of any Australian airport - anextension of the relationship with the Perth Mint. Bars and food outlets have been refurbishedfrequently since the terminal opened to meet changing tastes of cuisine and service. Indoorand outdoor areas for children and family groups include a playground, a fauna park, and alawned barbecue section.

Over the years the number of foreign-owned airlines has risen dramatically - many of themunderlining Perth Airport's strategic position as Australia's closest city to Asia and Africa. Theyinclude Air New Zealand, Air Mauritius, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Garuda Indonesia

Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, royal Brunei, Sempati Air, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways and Thai International. Air Zimbabwe is represented through a code-sharearrangement with Qantas.

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Ansett's modern domestic terminal at Perth Airport. The airline's WA roots go back more than 70 years.

The aircraft they fly, like the Boeing 747-400, can carry up to 433 passengers at cruising

speeds of around 900 kph - a far cry, indeed, from 1944 and the days of Qantas Empire Airways when a converted Liberator bomber flew into Guildford Aerodrome to begin the firstinternational service on what was once a public golf course.

Landmarks In Aviation

Aviation has always been important to Western Australia from the early days of flight. This isevident in the following landmarks, among which area various world aviation records in whicheither the State or Perth played a pivotal role:

1911 The first significant flight in Australiawas made by Joseph Hammond in a

Bristol Boxkite, from the Belmont Parkracecourse on January 9, 1911. Theduration of the flight - 45 minutes -eclipsed the first four flights madeelsewhere in Australia - of only a fewmetres which lasted for five minutes orless.

1920 First trans-continental flight fromMelbourne to Perth arrived November30.

1920

Langley Park on the Perth city foreshore selected as first unofficialairport (until 1923). The previous regular land used was beside theBelmont race-course, which was subject to flooding.

December 4 1921 WA Airways begins the Geraldton-Derby mail route, (later extended toPerth and Wyndham) using six Bristol Tourers. This was the firstregular scheduled air service in Australia. A pilot and an engineerwere killed in an accident during the inaugural service in which threeaircraft flew in formation.

January 1924 Maylands aerodrome officially opened.

June 1929 West Australian Airways (Sir Norman Brearley) begins subsidisedPerth-Adelaide weekly service via Kalgoorlie, Forrest, Ceduna, flyingDe Havilland DH 66 Hercules biplanes. The journey took one-and-a-half days.

1931

Australian National Airways Pty Ltd incorporated.

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July 12 1931 Vickers Viastra of WA Airways flies 2,333 kilometres Perth-Adelaideservice in 11 hours, with a total journey time of 22.5 hours. 1934 HC(Horrie) Miller's Commercial Aviation Company, of South Australia,wins the North West Australia routes contract in a shock move.MacRobertson Miller Aviation (MMA) formed with backing of SirMacPherson Robertson.

October 3 1934 MMA begins Perth-Daly Waters weekly service flying De HavillandDragons.

December 1935 Captain CW Snook, trading as Airlines (WA) Ltd, starts twice-weeklyreturn service from Perth through Goldfields flying Spartan Cruiserand Monospar aircraft.

July 1 1936 Adelaide Airways takes over the assets and services of West Australian Airways.

December 20 1936 ANA introduces the DC-2 (Bungana) on the Perth-Adelaide service,having absorbed Adelaide Airways.

July-August 1938 MMA extends its route to Darwin via Wyndham to connect with Australia-England flying boat service and transfer overseas mail.

1938 The site of the future Perth Airport selected at South Guildford(formerly Dunreath golf course and market gardens).

1938 RAAF base at Pearce constructed in response to demand for apermanent RAAF presence in WA.

1939 The first-ever flight across the Indian Ocean made by Captain PGTaylor in a Catalina flying boat named "Guba". The flight left PortHedland on June 4 and arrived at Mombasa, Africa, on June 21,having flown via Batavia, Cocos Islands, Diego garcia and theSeychelles.

1941-41 Guildford Aerodrome designated for military purposes for duration ofWorld War II. With initial development for RAAF purposes. Twoairstrips constructed in 1943 and 1944.

March 1942/45 77 Squadron RAAF formed at Guildford, flying Kittihawks. 85Squadron RAAF formed 1943, flying Boomerangs, then Spitfires. 35Squadron RAAF, a transport squadron also based at Guildfordtemporarily.

July 1943 Qantas Empire Airways opens Perth-Ceylon route flying Catalinasfrom Crawley Bay, with initial weekly service, the first ocean flighttaking 28 hours and 56 minutes. This was the longest (duration)scheduled air service in the world, averaging 27 hours over two years

for the 3,500 statute mile flight - a 50-year-old world record neverlikely to be broken.

The service was discontinued with the last flight arriving in Perth onJuly 18, 1945, completing the 271st ocean crossing.

May 1944 ANA begins interstate Perth-Adelaide service from Guildford Aerodrome.

July 17 1944 Qantas Empire Airways begins Kangaroo Service flying convertedLiberator bomber from Guildford via Learmonth to Ratmalana inCeylon, to supplement the Catalina service.

September 1946

The Federation Aeronautique Internationale officially recognises theflight of US Navy P2V-1 Neptune "Truculent Turtle", from Perth toColumbus, Ohio, as a world record for aircraft with piston engines

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flying a straight line course. The 18,081 km non-stop, un-refuelledflight took 55 hours and 17 minutes - a record which still stands afteralmost 50 years.

December 2 1946 Newly formed Trans Australia Airlines (TAA begins Melbourne- Adelaide-Perth night service, flying DC-4s (Skymasters).

July 2 1948 Woods Airways Pty Ltd begins Perth-Rottnest Island service with Avro Ansons. The 42 kilometre route (the only one operated by the airline)makes it the world's smallest air service.

1952 Guildford Aerodrome officially renamed Perth International Airport,with first international service through Perth (Australia to South Africavia Cocos Islands and Mauritius) by Qantas flying Constellations.

1953 ANA introduced DC-6s on its interstate service.

March 1953 International terminal completed at Perth Airport at a cost of $180,000- built from second-hand materials from wartime quonset huts fromManus Island.

April 17 1955 TAA introduces Viscounts on non-stop Adelaide-Perth service. August 10 1955 Qantas begins operating one of its Sydney-London Kangaroo Service

flights via Perth, instead of through Darwin.

December 14 1955 First jetliner to land at Perth Airport - a De Havilland Comet 3 flown bychief test pilot John Cunningham.

November 25 1957 South African Airways opens Johannesburg-Perth service flying DC-7Bs.

1957/58 Tourist-class services introduced by TAA and Ansett-ANA on DC-4sand Viscounts.

December 28 1959 MMA introduces turbo-prop Fokker Friendship on its Perth-Darwinroutes. In the same year Lockheed L188 Electras (turbo-prop) beganflying on domestic and international services.

October 1962 New Perth Airport Terminal housing international and main domesticoperators opened by Minister for Civil Aviation, Senator ShanePaltridge.

June 30 1963 Maylands airfield closed. The following day Jandakot Airport wasopened.

1964 Ansett and TAA introduce Boeing 727s, the first pure-jet services oninterstate routes.

1966 Main runway (north/south) at Perth Airport, built in 1949, extended andupgraded to cater for larger jet aircraft such as the Boeing 707.

1967 Domestic carriers introduce DC-9s.

1969 MMA begins flying pure-jet Fokker Fellowships (F-28s) on its Perth-Darwin service.

October 25 1986 New international terminal officially opened by Prime Minister BobHawke.

1988 Federal Airports Corporation (FAC) takes over the management ofPerth Airport from the federal Department of Transport.

1989

The supersonic Concorde arrives at Perth Airport on a round-the-

world flight to mark its 20th year of operation. The Concorde hadmade three earlier visits to Perth, the first in February, 1985.

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1990 One of the world's largest aircraft - the Russian Antonov AN-124 -arrives at Perth Airport. It carries the North Atlantic TreatyOrganisation (NATO) reporting name "Condor" (named after theworld's largest flying bird).

1992

The longest flight ever by a European-built airliner was made by an

Airbus A340 from Toulouse to Perth, completing the 8,100 nauticalmile non-stop flight in 6 hours 35 minutes. It arrived at Perth Airport onOctober 23. This record has since been broken by a speciallyprepared Airbus A340 which flew non-stop to Auckland on a one-stopflight around the world in June 1993.