DeltaB717 wrote:tullamarine wrote:Canberra as well. That’s fine because while the physical stand and airbridge can be used for domestic and international passengers, internally passengers are segregated. Domestic passengers are on one level, international departures above and international arrivals below. Once a passenger has gone through international security and border control there is no chance of them intermingling with domestic passengers even if they are in the same building.
I don't want this to sound cruel but it appears that whilst swing gates may work in Australia, it is really only in locations where international operations are more a novelty than a full-blown operation. Whilst it is OK in CBR and ADL with >10 international movements per day, it is hard to see why you'd bother in places such as MEL, SYD, PER and BNE, where int'l ops are basically non-stop and therefore justify their own dedicated area/terminals.
As has been pointed out, AU int'l ops differ significantly from other places such as US where departures are mixed and there are few, if any, int'l departure controls, An Australian mixed terminal would require a duplication of airside functions such as lounges, concessions etc in segregated areas unless you were going to subject domestic departures to the same vetting as international which does have arguments in its favour but would be time-consuming and more expensive.
Subjecting domestic / Schengen pax to the same security screening etc as international passengers is precisely how pax are permitted to intermingle in the US and Europe. Everyone passes through some kind of passport control, everyone passes through LAGS, etc. Australia and New Zealand have just chosen not to go down that route.
I am not sure about the US, but in Europe Schengen and non-Schengen pax typically do not mix. Taking FRA or MUC as an example, the same terminal does handle Domestic (Schengen) and International flights, but both are on segregated levels of the same terminal/pier. Typically you will have international arrivals on the lower level (with immigration and customs), then a combined Schengen Departures/Arrivals level just like Domestic in AU on the mid-level (without immigration and customs), and on top of that another level with International Departures (with immigration and customs). So you segregate pax in the same way as is being done in BNE or SYD, just in much closer proximity. I am not sure why something like this wouldn't be possible here.
I still remember walking through FRA T1 pier A on the Schengen level one day on the way to my gate, and while passing another gate saw a flight boarding for Paderborn (PAD), a small regional airport maybe 300 km north of Frankfurt, and a 744 sitting at the gate. I had to stop and check again because this did not make sense, and it turned out the PAD flight was boarding into a bus waiting underneath the gate down the stairs, while the 744 sitting at the same gate would have been boarding from the Intl level above and probably going to DEL or IAD or somewhere else more interesting than Paderborn.
This would definitely be possible in larger airports such as MEL or SYD, but I agree swing gates only makes sense with limited Intl ops. CHC has a dedicated Intl and Domestic wing and then a small number of gates (3-4) sitting in between that can swing either way. I think this is a clever concept as you still have Duty Free, Lounges, restaurants etc. available post security and immigration, but the number of gates can vary depending upon demand and time of the day.