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Gold Coast Airport, or '''Coolangatta Airport''', is an Australia n domestic and international Airport on the Gold Coast and is located some 80 Kilometres (50 Mi .) south of Brisbane . The entrance to the airport is situated in the suburb of Bilinga on the Gold Coast . The runway itself straddles 5 suburbs of twin cities across the state border of Queensland and New South Wales . During summer these states are in two different time zones. Gold Coast Airport is the fastest growing airport in Australia, and has handled during financial year 2005/2006 more 3,5 million passengers, Gold Coast Airport Statistics an increase of 11,51% over the previous year. 2,871,593 passengers have already passed through the airport during the first nine months of the 2007/07 year, with 352,554 visitors in January, which represents an all-time high of passengers handled in a single month by Gold Coast Airport. HISTORY Until 1999, the airport was known as ''Coolangatta Airport''. It originally consisted (1936) of three grass strips with the intention of only providing emergency landing ground for airmail aircraft transiting between Brisbane and Sydney. Finally, passenger flights took off for the first time in 1939, using the then grassy field of the current Coolangatta site. Regular services were started by Queensland Airlines and Better Air Tranport after the Second World War. Ansett started its own services in 1950 using DC-3s, while Trans Australia Airlines did the same in 1954 using DC-3s too as well as DC-4s and Convairs to link other Australian cities. By 1958, the taxiways and runways were fully-paved, with the later being upgraded a decade later to allow jet opertations with DC-9 and L-188 Electra aircraft to began. The current terminal, entitled ''Eric Robinson Building'', was officially opened in 1981 by Acting Prime Minister Douglas Anthony , when at the time more than 650,000 passengers were using the airport. The following year, the main runway was lengthened to 2042m, thus permitting the use of wide-body jets by the two domestic operators Ansett Airlines and Trans Australia Airlines and their Boeing 767 and Airbus A300 respectively on flights from Melbourne and Sydney . In 1990, the airport welcomed its first international charter service from New Zealand, and by 1998, Air New Zealand low-cost subsidiary Freedom Air started scheduled no-frills service from Hamilton, New Zealand with Boeing 737 s. On . INFRASTRUCTURE It is anticipated that a railway station will be constructed at the airport when the Gold Coast Line is extended. The Tugun Bypass soon to be open will provide links to the Airport and the bypass even goes under the new Runway . The airport opened an extension to the main runway as well as a full length parallel taxiway in May 2007. The runway will be 2500m/8200ft long, allowing for heavier aircraft with greater range to take off. Finelli, Marco: Coolangatta Gold Coast - An airport with a golden future, page 55, ( ''Airliner World'' online ) September 2005 On 16 May 2007 , the runway extension was officially inaugurated by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services, the Hon Mark Vaile MP.Tourism takes off at Gold Coast Airport (http://www.ministers.dotars.gov.au/mv/releases/2007/May/075MV_2007.htm ''Minister for Transport and Regional Services'' online]) AIRLINES AND DESTINATIONS
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