Brisbane airport going for gold

When Australia's borders closed during the pandemic, Gert-Jan de Graaff, CEO of Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC), had one of the most difficult jobs in the country. At our recent Illuminate event – fittingly themed ‘Focus Forward – Bigger, Better, Stronger’ – he reflected on the current and future outlook for the skies over Brisbane and explained the measures he took to ensure the airport continued to fly high.

“The airport is on the way back to recovery with domestic travel back, especially leisure – which is now even bigger than before COVID,” said Gert-Jan. “However, we still need to see more corporate travellers return. Brisbane airport is currently at 50% of its pre-COVID international passenger levels, with passenger numbers increasing by approximately 10% every six months.”

In December 2021 Brisbane airport processed 10,000 passengers daily, then 20,000 passengers in March 2022 and 55,000 in July. “I expect that we will not be fully back to the pre-COVID passenger levels of 2019, until 2025,” said Gert-Jan. “However, Sydney and Melbourne airports will most likely be back a bit quicker than that.

“A major milestone for Brisbane airport was the opening of the new runway in 2020, which means we now have the same capacity as Singapore and Hong Kong airports,” said Gert-Jan. “Now we are investing in refurbishing the domestic terminal, improving retail in the international terminal and we’re starting to install new check-in kiosks with biometric facial recognition.”

Billion-dollar investment

The big news is the investment in a new, $1 billion world-class terminal, to be ready for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympic Games. “This third terminal will potentially service both international and domestic operations and it will also be a net zero terminal,” said Gert-Jan.

“The new terminal will champion innovation with many touchless and self-service operations and it will take Brisbane city to the next level with investment from the State Government. However, at the same time we need investment in a new mass transport solution to get people into the city and to also improve Brisbane’s connectivity to the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.”