Qantas today announced that it had reached an agreement with Sydney Airport Corporation Ltd. for the use of the former Ansett terminal.

The agreement covers use of part of Pier B of the terminal on a first right basis in accordance with the principles of common use gate allocation.

Qantas operations at the former Ansett terminal are expected to commence by mid September.

Qantas Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon welcomed the agreement.

“We will use gates at the former Ansett terminal primarily as a base for our leisure operations, including Boeing 717 aircraft within the QantasLink fleet,” Mr Dixon said.

“This is in line with our strategy to segment our flying business to align costs and revenues in particular markets.

“Specifically, we will use all economy class aircraft on leisure routes that have little or no demand for business travel. At the same time, we will expand our successful Cityflyer service and these services will continue to operate from our own domestic terminal.”

Mr Dixon said Qantas was continuing with plans to extend its own domestic terminal.

“Earlier this week, the Qantas Board approved the allocation of over $100 million for this expansion,” Mr Dixon said.

Qantas plans to replace an existing maintenance hangar, Hangar 96, with three gates for wide-bodied aircraft. In addition, Qantas will build a link from the western end of the Qantas domestic terminal, across the former Australian Airlines site to the common use area at the former Ansett terminal.

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