Western Australian tourism has celebrated a major milestone with Singapore Airlines carrying its record 500,000th passenger through Perth Airport for the calendar year.
Western Australian tourism has celebrated a major milestone with Singapore Airlines carrying its record 500,000th passenger through Perth Airport for the calendar year.
Western Australian tourism has celebrated a major milestone with Singapore Airlines carrying its record 500,000th passenger through Perth Airport for the calendar year.
Tourism Minister Sheila McHale was on hand at Perth Airport to mark the milestone - a strong indictment of WA's substantial tourism growth over the past decade.
"This is a fantastic milestone and great news for Western Australia," Ms McHale said.
The occasion also coincided with the reopening of Singapore Airline's newly refurbished Silver Kris Lounge at Perth Airport.
Ms McHale said the lounge's re-opening reinforced the significant long-term commitment Singapore Airlines was making to Perth and WA.
"Singapore Airlines carries the most international passengers of any airline through Perth Airport," Ms McHale said.
"Lounges such as this add to the first-class customer experience visitors to WA enjoy and come back for. The Silver Kris lounge will be the last place in WA many of our visitors will see, and I am certain it will leave a lasting impression."
Ms McHale said the milestone of 500,000 international passengers for just one carrier in one year contrasted sharply to the 484,577 international passengers for Perth Airport as a whole in 1985.
"This really highlights the substantial growth in tourism the state has undergone over the past 20 years," Ms McHale said.
To mark the 500,000th passenger arrival during the week, Ms McHale presented a lucky person on flight SQ223 with a five-day WA return ticket holiday package, including accommodation and car hire.
Singapore Airlines recently increased flights to and from Perth to three times daily, with daily connections on its extensive European, Asian and worldwide network - a response to increasing passenger demand to and from WA.
Ms McHale said the airline had invested heavily in the local community, including sponsorship of the West Australian Ballet and Sports Challenge - a benchmark mentoring program for youth.
In addition, The Jandakot College has become home to The Singapore Flying College's exclusive training branch, which commenced operations in 1991. The College provides superior pilot training for Cadets who go on to become commercial pilots for Singapore Airlines.