In 2015, international travellers arriving at Canberra Airport for a short stay should have a more pleasant experience than the recent delay experienced by United Airlines passengers.
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Diverted from Sydney to Canberra, they sat on the grounded plane from San Francisco for hours because of flying and immigration regulations, before they could resume their journey.
A curving new, $50 million hotel is ahead of schedule at the airport and is a key piece of infrastructure for direct international flights into Canberra.
Canberra Airport project manager Zarko Danilovsaid work on the hotel, which will be run in partnership with Togar Far East Hotels, was ahead of schedule for completion in October next year.
"Much of the design has been fast tracked with pre-cast elements in construction picking up a lot of time. All the facade will be built by April and the building will be to lock-up stage and we can begin landscaping."
Canberra Airport regularly accepts overflow domestic and international flights bound for Sydney. Airport spokeswoman Jane Seaborn said, with enough notice, Customs processed international visitors at the airport, as they did recently when a visiting dignitary arrived with 60 other passengers.
"The capability is here; it is not 24/7 because we don't have regular direct flights. We have an excellent working relationship with Customs and Border Protection," Ms Seaborn said.
The airport is confident of having direct flights from south-east Asia by 2015.
"The broader offering of the region is important for overseas markets, especially South East Asia," Ms Seaborn said.
"'You can't image how much impact direct flights are going to make for Canberra. [For example] our micro agriculture, the Pialligo Farm Smoke House could fly their products to south-east Asia."
Ms Seaborn said international travel would open up many opportunities, and freight would follows.
Inside the new hotel a drum-shaped atrium rises from the ground to the seventh-storey skylight roof, which, like the terminal, will present an impressive entrance.
A big gas fireplace will stand opposite the bar. A restaurant with wrap-around balcony, lounge room, commercial kitchens, and five conference rooms occupy the ground floor. Unlike many other airport hotels, this one is designed to create activity throughout the day around its timber veneer core.
Seating 145 people, the largest conference room faces the airport's road entrance.
Balconies outside the large sixth-level suites look out in all directions. From the west the view stretches over Pialligo orchards through to Barton, Parliament House and the Brindabella Mountains. In winter, when trees have dropped their leaves, the views will show more detail of suburbia in Canberra's south.
Mr Danilov said the hotel's white, refined exterior would feature a clear glass curtain and set-back bronze. People driving past will not see a glass reflection but glimpses of shimmering.