GOLD Coast Airport is to have a state-of-the-art $100 million terminal as the centrepiece of a sprawling $1 billion-plus business precinct with high rises, office towers and a train line.

Airport chief executive Paul Donovan unveiled the radical plans yesterday, saying the 460m runway extension under construction now was only the tip of the iceberg for the airport.

“It’s going to be a small city,” he said. “We are going to create a terminal and an airport precinct that has the ‘wow’ factor. Mr Donovan said the runway extension would be a huge money spinner for the airport and the Gold Coast, allowing in fully loaded Boeing 767s and 787s and luring carriers flying direct from the US, South-East Asia, Japan, China and the Middle East.

The bonanza would pay for a new $100 million terminal that is already in the design stages and is ‘just a few years away’, according to Mr Donovan. “In 10 years we should be satisfying the people in our catchment area with direct flights throughout Asia and connecting long-haul flights from there. Effectively you could fly everywhere,” said Mr Donovan