Perth · Australia · Stopover · Western Australia
Perth International Airport PER
Perth is your way towards Ningaloo, but its four terminals sit in two groups separated by a 15-minute road journey. Your flight to the reef is quite likely leaving from the other side.
For subtitles in English: start the video firstthen click the gearat the top right of the video, select “Subtitles/CC”, then “Auto-translate” and choose “English”.
How long is your layover?
2 hrs
Everything depends on your terminal group. They are 15 minutes apart by road.
- The four terminals make two sets: Terminals 1 and 2 are on one side, linked by a covered walkway taking five minutes; Terminals 3 and 4 are together and connected on foot.
- ⚠️ Allow FIFTEEN MINUTES by road between the two groups. A free shuttle runs every twenty minutes during the day and every thirty minutes at night, but it is landside.
- The connection times in circulation are forty-five minutes between domestic flights, ninety minutes when an international flight is involved, and one hundred and twenty between different airlines. These are not official airport figures; the times on your ticket take precedence.
- ⚠️ Le terminal dépend de la compagnie, et il a bougé : Jetstar a quitté le Terminal 3 pour le Terminal 2 en septembre 2024, Qantas opère surtout depuis le Terminal 4. Un guide plus ancien vous enverra dans le mauvais groupe, à un quart d’heure de route.
2–5 hrs
⭐ You have free showers, including one beside gate 54.
- You can use free showers in Terminal 1: one in international arrivals, on the ground floor near counter 40, and one airside near gate 54. Terminal 3 has them too.
- ⚠️ You are not provided with a towel or toiletries.
- You have free Wi-Fi throughout the airport after online registration.
- ⚠️ Every luggage locker is landside and paid, spread across the short-stay car parks at the terminals. Terminal 1 also has a landside service for oversized items; this is the one that accepts a long dive bag.
5–10 hrs
⚠️ As elsewhere in Australia, visa-free transit ends at eight hours.
- Below eight hours, you can transit without applying for anything if you remain in the international area, do not collect your bags, and hold a confirmed onward ticket.
- ⚠️ VISA REQUIRED above eight hours, if you leave the airport, or if you need to reach the other terminal group, you need Australian permission obtained BEFORE departure. No visa is issued on arrival.
- Perth is close to the city and well connected, so getting out is realistic after six or seven hours if you have permission and allow for immigration, customs and biosecurity on your return.
- You will find no airport-organised city tour.
10 hrs +
At this length, you need permission. There is no bed airside.
- ⚠️ VISA REQUIRED ten hours exceeds the eight-hour ceiling, whether you leave the airport or not.
- ⚠️ You have no hotel in the secure area at Perth. Your night starts after immigration.
- VISA REQUIRED you have a hotel within the airport perimeter, while the neighbouring area has several more a few minutes away. Check the shuttle, particularly if your northern flight leaves at dawn.
- You have no documented airline overnight-stay programme.
What catches travellers out
At eight hours, visa-free transit stops
This Australian rule applies here as it does at Sydney and Brisbane: above eight hours, you need permission even if you stay in the international area. You can apply only online, before departure.
Four terminals, but two addresses
You read “four terminals” and picture one building. Instead, you have two groups separated by a 15-minute road journey, and the free shuttle is less frequent at night. Look at the terminal number on your second ticket, not just the departure time.
The lounge shower is not always included
It is included when you book directly with the lounge, and charged extra when you enter through certain card schemes. As you also have free showers in the terminal, ask before paying twice.
Why not wait it out in peace?
For subtitles in English: start the video firstthen click the gearat the top right of the video, select “Subtitles/CC”, then “Auto-translate” and choose “English”.
You can buy access to the Aspire in Terminal 1, and it includes free luggage storage. You will not find that elsewhere at Perth.
First misconception dealt with: this lounge is not for business-class passengers alone. You can pay to enter without status if you hold a boarding pass for an international flight departing from Terminal 1.
⭐ Its most useful feature for you as a diver is unexpected: luggage storage is FREE for lounge guests. Every other luggage-storage option at Perth is landside and paid, so using one means exiting and going through security again.
⚠️ Check the shower arrangement: it is included with bookings made directly with the lounge, but charged EXTRA when you enter through certain card schemes. Ask before you go in.
The alternative is worth stating plainly: Perth also has free showers airside. They will do for three hours; the lounge makes more sense when your wait runs longer.
Expect the equivalent of a sit-down airport meal for three hours of peace.
See the lounge →Where to sleep during the layover?
Choose the airport hotel within the perimeter for the shortest journey.
- Use it when your flight to Exmouth or the north leaves early: with dive kit, every minute of travel counts twice.
- You must clear immigration, customs and biosecurity to use it, so your electronic permission must be approved.
For subtitles in English: start the video firstthen click the gearat the top right of the video, select “Subtitles/CC”, then “Auto-translate” and choose “English”.
Choose the better-rated option a little further away when you need a proper night rather than a few hours.
- Use it for a long stopover when you want to sleep properly before a domestic flight.
- Confirm the shuttle and its night timetable when you book.
For subtitles in English: start the video firstthen click the gearat the top right of the video, select “Subtitles/CC”, then “Auto-translate” and choose “English”.
The diver’s reflex
⭐ You must declare your wetsuit: clean and dry
Australian biosecurity explicitly includes wetsuits among sporting equipment you must declare. Your wetsuit, BCD, fins and boots should be rinsed, dried and declared on your passenger card. Declaring them causes no trouble, even if an item needs treatment; failing to declare them can bring an immediate fine. At Perth, you pass this check as soon as you move to the domestic terminal, so you will face it if you are heading north towards Ningaloo.
Your Exmouth flight leaves from the other terminal group
You reach Ningaloo on a domestic flight, and Perth's domestic terminals are not all on the same side of the airport. The two groups are a 15-minute road journey apart, with the connecting shuttle running landside. You therefore clear immigration, customs and biosecurity, collect your dive bag, take the bus, check in again and return through security. Check the terminal number for your second flight before you book.
The lounge has the only luggage storage you can use without exiting
All Perth's lockers are landside, so leaving a bag in one means clearing immigration and returning through security. The lounge storage is the sole exception, free for its guests. On a six-hour stopover with a cabin bag carrying your regulator, dive computer and housing, that is a practical advantage. It is not the sort of detail that makes the brochure.
The airport at a glance
- Terminals
- You have four in TWO groups T1 and T2 are linked on foot by a walkway (5 min), while T3 and T4 are together · 15 min by road between the two groups.
- Between groups
- You use a free shuttle LANDSIDE every 20 min from 6 hrs to 22 hrs, every 30 min at night, ≈15 min.
- Connection
- Allow 45 min between domestic flights · 90 min when an international flight is involved · 120 min between different airlines cross-checked figures, not official.
- Transit without permission
- ⚠️ EIGHT HOURS MAXIMUM in the international area above that, or to change terminal groups, you need prior permission.
- Entry
- You must apply for permission ONLINE before departure no visa on arrival.
- Biosecurity
- ⚠️ You must declare sporting equipment, clean and dry wetsuits are explicitly included.
- Showers
- ⭐ FREE T1 international arrivals near counter 40 and airside near gate 54 · also at T3 · you are not provided with a towel.
- Wi-Fi
- You have free Wi-Fi throughout the airport after online registration.
- Luggage storage
- You have paid lockers LANDSIDE near the car parks · an oversized-item service at T1 · ⭐ FREE storage inside the lounge for its guests.
- Lounge you can buy
- Aspire in international Terminal 1, airside your shower is included depending on the entry arrangement.
- Airside hotel
- You have none your night starts after immigration.
- Landside hotel
- You have one hotel within the airport perimeter, with several more a few minutes away.
- Terminal selon la compagnie
- Jetstar au T2 depuis septembre 2024 (ex-T3) · Qantas surtout au T4 vérifiez le numéro sur le billet, pas dans un guide
- Christmas Island et Cocos
- Départs du T2 ou du groupe T3-T4 selon la liaison les formalités d’une arrivée internationale se règlent d’abord au T1
- Official website
- perthairport.com.au ↗
