Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss today approved an instrument landing system (ILS) for Gold Coast Airport.
The ILS for runway 14 is expected to be operating sometime in 2017.
According to the minister, approximately 50 aircraft every year are currently diverted from Gold Coast due to inclement weather, and a number of others never left their point of departure.
"Gold Coast Airport is currently the sixth busiest airport in Australia, but the only one of the 12 busiest not to have ILS capability," Truss said in announcing the approval.
"The ILS will help to reduce diversions, aircraft circling, missed approaches and flight cancellations in poor weather conditions. This will reduce the inconvenience and impost on passengers, airlines, airport retail businesses, transport operators and other stakeholders due to flight disruptions.
Truss said the ILS is appropriate for Gold Coast to function as a world-class facility, equipped with the same level of aviation technology expected of an international airport of similar size and capacity.
"It will help to improve aviation facilities at the airport in preparation for the forthcoming 2018 Commonwealth Games when the number of domestic and international visitors passing through the airport is expected to increase significantly," he said.
Gold Coast Airport currently services around 6 million passengers per year, which is forecast to grow to 16.3 million in 2031. The number of flight diversions could be expected to increase proportionally if the ILS was to be not installed.
Currently, Jetstar, Tiger, Virgin and Qantas all operate from Gold Coast Airport, which recorded 81,000 movements in 2015. Of those, 44,000 were aircraft below 7000 kg maximum take-off weight.