New innovative Virgin Australia lounge and terminal opens at Perth Airport

At the height of the mining boom Perth Airport's prognosis, at least domestically, was, well, terminal with crowded and outdated arrival and departure halls, poor facilities and lengthy taxi queues.

But, with the fizzing out of the boom, and with high-vis vests a lot less visible out west these days, this weekend is set to see the opening to the public of Virgin Australia's brand new Perth T1 domestic terminal, Australia's newest and possibly most stylish.

In design terms alone, Virgin's new terminal is set to give Qantas's lauded domestic equivalent in Sydney a runway for its money.

Virgin passengers arriving and departing in the Western Australia capital will be greeted by an all black, red, silver purple-toned state-of-the-art facility by architects Woods Bagot.

Part of an overdue $1 billion redevelopment of the airport, the terminal's 'pier extension' (housing arrival and departure lounges, aerobridges and food and retail) is 250 metres in length.

That's longer than even the tallest building in WA with the terminal providing seamless regional, interstate and international transfers.

A new light-filled Virgin Australia Perth Lounge designed by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects, a far cry in style, size and quality to its predecessor, includes not only requisite wine and espresso bars but also city skyline views beyond the tarmac and runway.

Perhaps the terminal's boldest innovation is a unique check-in process in the main hall that can be switched within minutes by staff from a self-service bag drop system to a traditional, full-service counter option, perfect for processing families and small to large groups.

The writer was a guest of Virgin Australia.

See virginaustralia.com.au; perthairport.com.au