Auckland Airport's domestic terminal was nearly deserted during pandemic lockdowns.
Auckland Airport's domestic terminal was nearly deserted during pandemic lockdowns.
Auckland Airport is about to rebuild two of its busiest bathroom blocks as part of a wider refresh of the domestic terminal, described once as the building with nine lives.
The terminal handles 20,000 travellers a day and the airport says it’s time they were upgraded, even though a brandnew $2.2 billion domestic terminal is coming.
Starting just after the July school holidays, bathroom facilities in the public areas of the domestic terminal – one near the regional arrivals and departures and one opposite the Air New Zealand baggage claim – will be expanded and upgraded to add two new parent rooms, improved accessible toilet facilities and introduce gender-neutral toilets.
But travellers looking forward to new facilities will have to hold on - the first of them isn’t due to open until the end of the year.
Auckland Airport chief customer officer Scott Tasker said while it isn’t the most glamourous of projects, everyone appreciates fresh, clean bathroom facilities.
“We’re getting on with building a new integrated terminal to replace the ageing domestic terminal. It’s a complex project that’s going to take time to deliver, so our priority is making some improvements to the current domestic terminal to ensure it’s a good experience for today’s travellers.
“Between 4.30am and 11pm, more than 20,000 travellers pass through the doors of the domestic terminal, plus all those people who come to pick up and drop off friends and whānau. We know these toilets are well-used, and it’s time they had an upgrade.”
The bathroom areas will increase in size by 35 square metres.
Improvements will add a second parent room and separate these out from the accessible toilet facilities, plus provide three new gender-neutral toilets.
“We recognise the importance of having safe and comfortable facilities available for people of any gender identity, so we have included one-cubicle, single-person toilets which can be used by anyone. Travel is for everybody, and that needs to be reflected in our services and amenities,” Tasker said.
The new-look bathrooms will also provide a first chance to get a sense of the look and feel of the interiors of the planned $2.2b domestic terminal.
“As we’re advancing the design of the new domestic terminal, there’s an opportunity to use this bathroom upgrade to road-test some of the fixtures and finishes we’ll look to use in the new terminal.”
Auckland Airport's chief customer officer Scott Tasker.
When details of new charges to pay for $3.9b of infrastructure emerged, the airport’s chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui said the nearly 60-year-old domestic terminal was past its use-by date.
“We know travellers are fed up with the domestic travel experience – they’ve told us that clearly,” she said.
To help pay for the work, the current per passenger charge of $7 to use the domestic jet terminal will more than double by the 2027 financial year. The charges are passed on to passengers.
Tasker said the domestic terminal needs to stay up and running while the airport complete the new integrated terminal, which will take five years to build.
The work announced today is focused on some of the areas the airport had customer feedback on.
‘‘It’s a pretty hardworking building given around 700,000 people travel through it every month, so it’s important we keep it well maintained and running smoothly.’'
Alongside the bathroom refresh, work will get under way on upgrading some key services and utilities and improving signs and other wayfinding tools, said Tasker.
“We know navigating around the terminal is also a bit of a bugbear for people. Frequent flyers know the place like the back of their hand, but if you’re coming in from overseas or don’t fly all that often, it can be a little more challenging.
“We think we can solve this problem with some better signage, plus we’re investigating how we can make things like entrance doors a bit more visible and easier to find,” said Tasker.
“There are definitely some quick wins we can make to provide a safe, efficient and pleasant travel experience until the new terminal is built.”
Work on the bathrooms will be co-ordinated with another maintenance project aimed at upgrading some of the domestic terminal’s core utilities.
There will be times when temporary facilities need to be used or hoardings are up around work sites.
“We’re asking customers to bear with us while we work to make these improvements as quickly as possible.”
Bathroom renovations will be staged to make sure there are always toilet facilities available during construction. New regional toilets are expected to open by Christmas and the arrivals toilets will be completed by mid-2024.
In 2018, former chief executive Adrian Littlewood described the domestic building as "the terminal with nine lives" before a revamp then.
The most recent projects of note in the domestic terminal included the Air New Zealand regional lounge upgrade, which opened in 2019, and the Aviation Security screening area, which was expanded in 2022 to accommodate new screening technology and increase queuing capacity.
Grant Bradley has worked at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.
