The Bowen Basin town of Emerald is considering plans for a separate fly-in fly-out airport terminal to cope with a massive increase in transient mining workers.
According to Central Queensland News the new terminal will allow workers to use a separate building and free up space for travelers in the existing terminal.
CQ News reports the expansion follows an upgrade at the airport less than two years ago.
Qantas and Virgin currently have around 130 flights a week passing through Emerald and that number is expected to rise to around 200 in the near future.
Ashley Rosario from the Central Highlands Regional Council told CQ News FIFO passengers at Emerald now accounted for almost half the airport's traffic.
"It's hard to tell the exact split between regular passenger traffic (RPT) and FIFO traffic, but it is heading towards about 60 per cent RPT and 40 per cent FIFO," he said.
http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/emerald-expands-airport-to-cope-with-fifo for further information.
http://www.cqnews.com.au/story/2012/04/11/new-terminal-on-the-cards-airport-growing-out-of-u/ for further information.