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Steel columns are being craned into place as vertical construction begins on the main building of Auckland Airport’s new domestic jet terminal.
Rising up to 21m above the ground, the columns will become the support structure for the domestic terminal headhouse – the main engine room of the new terminal. Right at the heart of the new terminal, the headhouse will contain the domestic arrivals and baggage pick-up area, traveller amenities, operational management spaces, airline lounges and dwell spaces, plus a new state of the art baggage system.
Auckland Airport chief infrastructure officer, Susana Fueyo Suarez says the first structural column going in for the new domestic jet terminal is an incredible milestone to reach, particularly for the team working on the build.
“This is one of New Zealand’s most significant infrastructure projects underway right now, and it’s exciting to see the structure rise up out of the ground. We are making good progress on this multi-year build, but it really is significant to be starting work on the main structure itself. You’d have to go back almost 50 years to when the international terminal was built for a project of this scale at Auckland Airport.
“Importantly, it’s going to have a huge impact on the way people travel, in terms of lifting the traveller experience at the airport, as well as creating essential resilience, and greater capacity for airlines. From today, visitors to Auckland Airport will begin to really see the new terminal taking shape above the construction hoardings,” she says.
Auckland Airport is underway with an interconnected programme of projects across its airfield, utilities, transport and terminals aimed at upgrading New Zealand’s gateway airport – the third largest port behind Port of Auckland and Port of Tauranga in terms of the value of trade carried and key enabler of $35.1 billion in annual economic value for New Zealand.
The new domestic jet terminal – the largest of the projects – features a new headhouse and a 240 metre-long gate pier that will deliver 44 per cent more processing space for passengers and 26 per cent more airline seat capacity, with an additional 10 per cent flexible seat capacity provided through bus lounge operations, plus a short indoor walk between domestic jet services and international flights.
Underway now is the first portion of the headhouse build, the southern section, which will contain the new ICS, or individual carrier system – a faster and more efficient baggage handling system.
“This will fully integrate with the renewals and upgrades currently underway on our existing 30-year-old baggage handling system within the international terminal. Together this will deliver a modern baggage system providing the functionality needed by airlines and their ground handlers.”
On the levels above will be the traveller dwell and amenity areas – the pre-departure spaces where travellers can charge up their phones, grab a coffee and relax for a bit. The upper floors that will become the domestic airline lounges are also included in this portion of the build.
Each column for the structure makes a pre-dawn journey on truck and trailer from the west Auckland fabrication workshop of D&H Steel Construction. The 12,000m2 facility has been busy working on the airport job since late last year, with a 50-strong fabrication team working two 10-hour shifts to prepare 1600 tonnes of column steel and another 3,000 tonnes of associated steel structures such as floor beams, lift shafts, roof structures and façade support for the initial stage of construction.
“Auckland Airport has had a near 40-year association with D&H Steel Construction, with the company having worked on most of our major projects. We’re expecting jobs onsite to peak at the end of 2027, but a project of this scale creates a ripple effect right across the construction industry, supporting hundreds more jobs and businesses and providing a steady, secure pipeline of work,” says Susana.
D&H Steel Construction general manager Richard Hine says it was great to continue the partnership with Auckland Airport and construction company Hawkins on the new domestic jet terminal.
“We’ve had a long history with Auckland Airport, delivering the steel fabrication for some of the airport’s biggest projects. During the construction of this next phase we will have more than 200 employees work on this project in various aspects.
“We’re really proud to be working on the new domestic jet terminal – a significant project not just for Auckland Airport, but for the growth and development of our city. I’ve no doubt the D&H team will all be making use of the terminal when it’s completed, which gives us great pride in the workmanship and planning that goes into it.”
Susana says Auckland Airport is a key driver for New Zealand’s prosperity, with an estimated $35 billion in economic benefit supported by the airport.
“If you break that down, every international touchdown is worth about $1.4 million to the country. Looking to the future, as we complete our infrastructure upgrades we expect that economic impact to increase to NZ$54.9 billion by 2032, including NZ$41.1 billion in annual freight movements,” she says.
“That economic impact is shared right across New Zealand, particularly through tourism.
“Each year Auckland Airport’s aviation connections facilitate $3.5 billion of economic activity associated with international travellers to the regions and $6.8 billion from domestic travel. At a local level that wealth transfer from Auckland Airport’s activities is estimated to be an extra $1.8 billion annually into the Christchurch economy and $813 million into Queenstown.”
While the new domestic jet terminal is the cornerstone project for the airport, wrapped around that is a wider programme of work to improve climate resiliency, expand airfield capacity, bring faster processing for travellers and their bags, and a greater experience for everyone who transits, visits, and works at Auckland Airport.
“We’re either in design, procurement or delivery for 97 per cent of the overall programme of work. In total, there’s 400,000m2 of aeronautical-focused infrastructure in development.
“We’re absolutely not alone in this. Globally there are around 200 airport redevelopment projects underway, all of which are preparing airport infrastructure for the decades to come.”
In September 2024, Auckland Airport signed a key contract for approximately $800 million with Downer Group subsidiary Hawkins Construction to manage the construction and delivery of the domestic jet terminal building, the most significant element in Auckland Airport’s ongoing upgrade.
