WATCH: £42m ‘Airport of the Future’ plans ready for take-off

Tuesday 03 April 2018

Plans to knock down a 1930s airport building to pave way for a combined £42million multi-floor departures and arrivals terminal have been officially approved.

Put forward in December last year following a year of work with international experts, the new proposals will see the existing 20-year-old departures area extended with a 2,300 square metre mezzanine floor area accessible via lifts, escalators and stairs, which open into a security area and departures lounge.

Expected to be in place by 2021, the new zone will also feature a ‘Jersey High Street’ showcasing local food and retail options. 

Video: What islanders can expect from the new airport.

But creating it will involve demolishing the 1937 arrivals building. Planning acknowledged that this “unique Jersey-arrivals experience” would be “difficult to reproduce”, but nonetheless welcomed “the need for local distinctiveness running through the project.”

The plans were subsequently approved last week, praised by officials as “high quality and appropriate to their context.”

Work on the revamp – the most ambitious renovation project yet for the 80-year-old airport – is expected to start this autumn.

Pictured: The mezzanine floor interlinking the check-in area with departures.

Before then, however, work will begin to improve security measures at the airport. ‘Anti-backtrack doors’, which will stop passengers from being able to return to the airside zone once they have left the baggage reclaim area and remove the need for security staff at exits.

While the current arrivals hall will only remain operational for two more years, airport officials say that the new doors will be able to be reused in the future airport.

The Customer Information desk will also be enlarged and centralised within the departures terminal by early summer.

Pictured: The gates in the upstairs departures lounge, from which passengers will access their planes by lift, escalator or stairs.

Maria Le Tiec, Passenger Services Manager for Ports of Jersey, said that the changes were the “direct result of public comment.” 

Ports are also welcoming further comment on the ‘Future Airport’ project and have so far received a range of suggestions, including the use of Jerriais in the design, a large soft children’s play area, a public viewing area and an improved bus shelter.