Mixed New & Nostalgia

Post Reply
Message
Author
EA01
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 2980
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:53 am
Location: OOL
Gender:
Age: 51

Mixed New & Nostalgia

#1 Post by EA01 » Tue Aug 30, 2022 10:31 am

I was selected as one of 500 or so people to attend the 'trial' opening of the new Coolangatta Airport terminal today. 1900 people had applied, some even flying up for Sydney for it apparently! :-\

So, it was a trial day to check signange etc. we were each given a 'script', which consisted (for example) a flight to 'Broome', off we'd go at a designated time, locate the gate, wait in the lounge, proceed to the gate attendent who scan our dummy boarding pass and down the aerobridge we'd go, but no aircraft waiting...instead an employee guarding a doorway that we'd pass through and be heading into 'arrivals', arriving in 'Darwin', locate baggage claim and be on our way.

This was followed by 'Departing for 'Nadi' (Ironic, given I actually departed for Nadi earlier in the Month), but this time passing by emigration & additional security, then 'returning' from Phuket. All seemed to work well enough...a lovely lunch box put on afterwards for our efforts.

That was the 'new', nostalgia comes from the fact that when I was a child, my first experience with OOL was from the passenger terminal that is today a cargo shed. I was listening to the local ABC radio on the way down & was fortunate enough to be interviwed by the presenter Nicole Dwyer when I was there!....She was half aghast when I relayed this info to her.

A phone based survey was expected of us after the 'tour' - 'Trial', fine. I ripped into them about the design, it is but a large extension of the old terminal to which it is attached. I noted Eero Saarinen's TWA terminal at JFK, instantly recogniseable.
Paris CDG, SIN Changi, Washington Dulles, what an imposing structure!, the Arches at LAX, the list goes on, yet here they missed a generational oportunity to make something special, they just extended the existing.

International departures level, to be fair is some serious floor to ceiling glass offering a very good view across the runway Southern end at least. They did get that part right.!

Anyway, it sounds like a strange thing to do on a day off, but then again I was part of history too... :)

EA01
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 2980
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:53 am
Location: OOL
Gender:
Age: 51

Re: Mixed New & Nostalgia

#2 Post by EA01 » Tue Aug 30, 2022 10:38 am

Oh...nice lunch box provided afterwards

EA01
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 2980
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:53 am
Location: OOL
Gender:
Age: 51

Re: Mixed New & Nostalgia

#3 Post by EA01 » Tue Aug 30, 2022 10:45 am

Oh, and frther I should add., after being in operation since something like 1939, 2022 the airport finally has 4 aerobridges.... (Rolls eyes)

EA01
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 2980
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:53 am
Location: OOL
Gender:
Age: 51

Re: Mixed New & Nostalgia

#4 Post by EA01 » Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:12 am



EA01 at 31 to 32 seconds, the good looking bloke in centre screen....ha ha

PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 8239
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 69

Re: Mixed New & Nostalgia

#5 Post by PHXPhlyer » Tue Aug 30, 2022 4:02 pm

EA01 wrote:
Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:12 am


EA01 at 31 to 32 seconds, the good looking bloke in centre screen....ha ha
Your 2 seconds of fame. ^:)^
Only 14 minutes 58 seconds to go. :ymdevil:

PP

TheGreenAnger
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 3286
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2022 11:40 pm
Location: Unfashionable end of the Western Spiral

Re: Mixed New & Nostalgia

#6 Post by TheGreenAnger » Wed Aug 31, 2022 6:24 pm

Damn, and to think I had hoped EA01 might have been seen surfing the baggage carousel, half drunk tinnie in hand, singing 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport with a posse of the Gold Coast's finest attempting to quell his free Aussie "spirit!" =))
My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave.

Post Reply