THE Longreach Airport team has a new home in the terminal building after relocating from the three-bedroom Queenslander it occupied for nearly 10 years.
The team moved into the purpose-built office space next to the departure lounge after construction finished in early February.
Longreach Airport manager Shelley Carr said the move had clear operational benefits.
“Being in the terminal means we are more easily able to assist passengers,” she said.
“There are also advantages to being closer to our key airport stakeholders like airline ground handlers and car rental companies, who we work with on a daily basis.”
The former office building – a converted residential home on the entry road to the airport – was occupied under a lease from Longreach Regional Council and will soon be handed back to its owner.
A decade of history went up for sale at the weekend in preparation, with about 50 pieces of furniture and other office items offered to the local community.
Ms Carr said there was a lot of interest in the items, which included desks, a kitchen table and crockery.
“We accumulated many things over the years that we no longer needed or had space for, but we knew they would be useful for someone else,” she said.
“So rather than throw things away, we wanted to give them a new lease of life.”
The Longreach Airport team moved into the former office space in 2012 when the airport was acquired by Queensland Airports Limited under a 99-year lease from Longreach Regional Council, and a new terminal building was constructed.
The former office was built in the early 1990s as the airport manager’s residence and was used in that capacity until 2000.
Since then, it has had a variety of uses, including most recently as the Longreach Airport management office.
