History
The Toowoomba region has not been serviced by a jet capable airport at anytime in the city's history. The extant Toowoomba Airport at Wilsonton in suburban Toowoomba has been historically restricted in development due to local council land development policy and poor local planning, although a runway extension in 2011 allowed for improved turbine RPT services.
The Darling Downs and Surat Basin regions have been subject to significant growth between 2005 and 2013, primarily due to coal mining and coal seam gas exploration. This industrial expansion coupled with the development of a transport hub and industrial estate at Charlton (10 km west of Toowoomba) has provided the land corridor immediately west of Toowoomba with government endorsed transport development opportunities.
Construction on the site, a former quarry owned by the Wagner family since 1994 began in April 2013, with an ambitious timeframe for completion by October 2014.[4]
On 22 November 2013, a Beech King Air owned and piloted by John Wagner became the first aircraft to land on the new runway. On 15 January 2014, the first concrete for the terminal building was poured.[5] In June 2014, work began on sealing the runway and movement areas using EFC, a low-carbon cement free concrete developed by Wagners' boosting the airport's green credentials.[6]
On 17 November 2014, the first regular public transport service commenced between Sydney Airport and Wellcamp airport.[7]
Controversy
The Wagner family submitted to the amalgamated Toowoomba Regional Council a plan for a large scale airport and industrial development in 2012, utilising an extant planning code from the pre-amalgated council statutes. The submission occurred on the last available day prior to post-amalgamation planning codes taking effect. This resulted in a diminished requirement for community consultation which was met with scepticism by some media and local residents.[8]
The initial submission was also completed without consultation with local airspace owners, primarily the Department of Defence, which controls much of the local airspace via the Oakey and Amberley military restricted airspace zones.[8] This has subsequently required considerable consultation, and has been complicated by effective endorsement of the privately funded public airport development at all governmental levels despite potential impacts on the Department of Defence.[citation needed]
The Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Graham Quirk, expressed opposition to the use of the name "Brisbane West" for an airport 130 km (81 mi) west of Brisbane, saying it would mislead visitors.[9]
Transport hub
The main terminal building.
The airport is placed to exploit the future development of transport and industry at Charlton. The new airport location is adjacent to the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, a proposed bypass of Toowoomba. The section of the bypass (between Charlton and Athol) passing the airport will be a single carriageway only. The airport location is also near the planned Australian standard gauge inland rail corridor which would link Melbourne with Brisbane, thus providing a potential road-air-rail hub.
Aviation school
In December 2014 the airport announced the development of an aviation education precinct, a joint project with the Airline Academy of Australia and University of Southern Queensland, to train pilots and offer courses in aircraft maintenance, engineering and electronics.[10] The first students commenced training in February 2015.[11]
Projected future
The airport is expected to act as a major air freight hub, including live livestock export via air. The terminal is projected to be 9,000 square metres on opening, and have the capacity to be developed to handle in excess of 500,000 passengers annually by 2019.[12] Due to its proximity to Brisbane and long runway, it is expected that Brisbane West Wellcamp will become an alternative for diverted domestic and international flights when weather conditions prevent landing at Brisbane and Gold Coast Airports.[4]
