Brisbane Airport is the primary international airport serving

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

and

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. Th ...

. The airport services 31 airlines flying to 50 domestic and 29 international destinations, in total amounting to more than 22.7 million passengers who travelled through the airport in 2016. In 2016, an OAG report named Brisbane airport as the fifth-best performing large-sized airport in the world for on-time performance with 86.71% of arrivals and departures occurring within 15 minutes of their scheduled times, slipping from 88.31% the year before. Brisbane Airport is a major hub for both

Virgin Australia Virgin Australia, the trading name of Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd, is an Australian-based airline. It is the largest airline by fleet size to use the Virgin brand. It commenced services on 31 August 2000 as ''Virgin Blue'', with two ...

and

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

, and a secondary hub for Qantas' low cost subsidiary

Jetstar Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd, operating as Jetstar, is an Australian low-cost airline (self-described as "value-based") headquartered in Melbourne. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas, created in response to the threat posed by airline Virgi ...

. Brisbane has the third highest number of domestic connections in Australia following Sydney and Melbourne. It is also home to Qantas' A330 and B737 heavy maintenance facilities. Virgin Australia has a smaller maintenance facility at the airport, where line-maintenance on the airline's 737 fleet is performed. Other airlines, namely QantasLink, and Alliance Airlines also conduct maintenance at their respective facilities at the airport. The airport has international and domestic passenger terminals, a

cargo terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...

, a

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

terminal and apron as well as two runways.

JETGO Australia JETGO Australia was a regional airline and air charter company based at Eagle Farm, Queensland near Brisbane Airport. The airline operated scheduled domestic passenger services in the Eastern states of Australia, which were suspended when th ...

also operated from Brisbane Airport until its demise in 2018. The

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...

has one of its nine Queensland bases at Brisbane Airport. On 30 March 2020, runway 14/32 was decommissioned early as part of Brisbane's new runway 'Operational Readiness & Testing' phase so that the newly decommissioned cross runway could be used for aircraft parking.

History

Eagle Farm Airport

Brisbane's first airport was

Eagle Farm Airport Eagle Farm Airport was a small airport located north-east of Brisbane in the suburb of Eagle Farm, Queensland, Australia. History An area located near Eagle Farm Racecourse was initially used as a landing field in 1922 and Eagle Farm Aero ...

that was built in 1925 on former

agricultural land Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with ...

in the suburb of

Eagle Farm Eagle Farm is an eastern industrial suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Eagle Farm had a population of 0 people. The neighbourhood of Whinstanes is located in Eagle Farm (). Geography Eagle Farm is situated no ...

located north-east of

, south-west of Brisbane Airport's

Domestic Terminal Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

. Although Qantas started operations there in 1926, most of the flights in Brisbane operated at the

Archerfield Airport Archerfield can refer to: *Archerfield, Queensland Archerfield is a mixed-use southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Archerfield had a population of 544 people. Geography Archerfield is bounded by Oxley Cree ...

, which contained a superior landing surface. While in operation,

Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Kingsford Smith was b ...

landed at Eagle Farm on 9 June 1928, after completing the first trans-pacific flight in his

Fokker F.VII The Fokker F.VII, also known as the Fokker Trimotor, was an airliner produced in the 1920s by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker, Fokker's American subsidiary Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, and other companies under licence. Design and d ...

, the

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...

. There is now a museum containing the original aircraft, along with a memorial located within the Brisbane Airport precinct. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Brisbane was the headquarters of the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in the

South West Pacific Area South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was the name given to the Allied supreme military command in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands in the Pacific War. SWPA included the Philippines, Borneo, the ...

, General Douglas MacArthur. The

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

upgraded the airfield (Eagle Farm Airport) to cater for military flights, bringing it to such a standard that it became the main civilian airport for the city. By the 1960s, the facilities at Eagle Farm Airport were inadequate for a city of Brisbane's size and anticipated growth. Many long-haul international services to Asia were required to make an en route stop (i.e. Darwin), disadvantaging the city to lure prospective carriers and business opportunities. Some of the infrastructure at Eagle Farm Airport was incorporated into today's Brisbane Airport. For example, the north-east end of the main runway (04/22) survives as taxiway Papa of the present airport, while the Eagle Farm international terminal is now the Brisbane Airport cargo terminal.

1988 opening

The Federal Government announced the construction of Brisbane Airport to be built immediately north east of Eagle Farm Airport. The new airport was built by

Leighton Contractors CIMIC Group Limited (formerly Leighton Holdings) is an Australian construction contractor. It is active in the telecommunications, engineering and infrastructure, building and property, mining and resources, and environmental services industries ...

and opened in 1988 with a new domestic terminal and two runways. The new airport was built on the former Brisbane residential suburb of Cribb Island that was demolished to make way for the airport. Large amounts of sand were pumped from nearby

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...

to raise the swamp land above the

tidal range Tidal range is the difference in height between high tide and low tide. Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and Sun and the rotation of Earth. Tidal range depends on time and location. ...

. The 1988 facilities included: a domestic terminal; state-of-the-art maintenance facilities; freight apron at the existing passenger terminal; two

runways According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete, o ...

( and ) with parallel taxiway systems (cater for Code F+ aircraft); access roads; parking facilities and a tall

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

tower. In 1995, the international terminal opened, and it has been expanded since that time.

Privatisation

In 1997, as part of the privatisation of numerous Australian airports, the airport was acquired for $1.4 billion from the Federal Airports Corporation by Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) under a 50-year lease (with an option to renew for a further 49 years). Since that time, BAC has assumed ultimate responsibility for the operations of Brisbane Airport including all airport infrastructure investment with no government funding. BAC's shareholders are major Australian and international organisations and significant institutional investors, including

Queensland Investment Corporation QIC (Queensland Investment Corporation) is a Government owned investment company owned by the Queensland Government. It was founded on 1 July 1991 pursuant to the ''Queensland Investment Corporation Act 1991'' to serve the long-term investment r ...

, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol,

Colonial First State Colonial First State (CFS), is an Australian wealth management group that provides investment, superannuation and retirement products to individuals and corporate and superannuation fund investors. History The company was established in 1988 ...

and

IFM Investors IFM Investors is a provider of investment services. As at 30 June 2021, IFM Investors invests on behalf of more than 550 institutions worldwide, including pension, superannuation and sovereign wealth funds, universities, insurers, endowment fun ...

. Approximately 80 percent of BAC shareholders are Australians with their savings invested in superannuation and other funds. Brisbane Airport is categorised as a Leased Federal Airport. In 2020, construction of a new runway was completed. Its first flight was operated by Virgin Australia, flight VA781 to Cairns, on 12 July 2020.

Terminals

Brisbane Airport has two passenger terminals.

International terminal

The international terminal was built in 1995 and has 14 bays with aerobridges, four of these are capable of handling A380s. There are also four layover bays. The terminal has four levels: level 1 houses most airline offices and

baggage handler In the airline industry, a baggage handler is a person who loads and unloads baggage (suitcases or luggage), and other cargo (airfreight, mail, counter-to-counter packages) for transport via aircraft. With most airlines, the formal job title i ...

s, level 2 handles arrivals, level 3 houses the departure lounge (airside) and other offices (landside), and level 4 houses departure check-in. The airport contains an

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country * Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir ** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf ** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual emirates * The Emirat ...

lounge, the first outside

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

that has direct access to the A380 aerobridges, and also has

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacif ...

Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines ( abbreviation: SIA) is the flag carrier airline of the Republic of Singapore with its hub located at Singapore Changi Airport. The airline is notable for highlighting the Singapore Girl as its central figure in corporat ...

, Swissport and Plaza Premium lounges. There is also a five-storey long term carpark and a smaller short term carpark in close proximity to the terminal. The international terminal redevelopment began in February 2014. The A$45 million redevelopment is designed by Brisbane architectural practices Richards and Spence and Arkhefield. Queensland artists, Sebastian Moody and Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, were commissioned for the artworks. The international terminal at Brisbane Airport was the first airport in the world to roll out a Bitcoin and other crypto-currency relate
token payment service
that majority of the stores within the terminal have taken part in.

Domestic terminal

Brisbane Airport's domestic terminal is a two-storey curved building with three complete satellite arms extending beyond the building providing additional passenger lounge and gate facilities for airlines. The domestic terminal has three distinct areas serving Qantas and QantasLink at the northern end of the building and Virgin Australia at the southern end of the building with other carriers such as Jetstar located in the central area of the terminal. The Qantas concourse has nine bays served by aerobridges including one served by a dual bridge. It has three lounges – the Qantas Club, Business Class and Chairman's Lounge. Virgin Australia occupies what was the former Ansett Australia end of the terminal. Its concourse has 11 parking bays, nine of which are served by aerobridges including two served by a dual bridge. It has one lounge – the Virgin Australia Lounge which is located in the former Golden Wing Club opposite Gate 41. Remote bays are located to the north and south of the building (serving non-jet aircraft), and in the central area (serving jet aircraft). On 27 February 2014, Qantas announced it had disposed of its long-term lease (signed in 1987) at the domestic terminal which was due to expire on 30 December 2018. Under the new arrangements, Qantas retains exclusive use and operational control over much of the northern end of the terminal until the end of 2018 while securing rights to key infrastructure beyond this period. In addition, BAC plans to make a significant investment in upgrading and improving facilities and services within the terminal, such as lounges and will assume control of the retail space of this part of the terminal.

AVCAIR FBO & VIP Lounge and Brisbane Jet Base

Brisbane has two FBO Lounge and Operation Facilities, located on the North Apron (Brisbane Jet Base) and South Logistics Apron (AVCAIR FBO) of Brisbane Airport. The AVCAIR facility handles

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples inc ...

and FIFO (

fly-in fly-out Fly-in fly-out is a method of employing people in remote areas by flying them temporarily to the work site instead of relocating employees and their families permanently. It is often abbreviated to FIFO when referring to employment status. This is ...

) movements including Adhoc Military, Medical and Charter flights and offers direct airside access for VIP movements.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Other tennants

There are several operators of emergency medical retrieval and rescue services based at the airport, including LifeFlight Australia, the

and AVCAIR.

Ground transport

Motorised transport

Brisbane Airport has 4 car-parks, all operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are 2 multi-level undercover car parks, the international, providing short and long term services, and the domestic also provides long and short term parking. Qantas and Virgin Australia also offer Valet Parking at the domestic terminal only. Total car spaces number 9,000.

Rail

The airport has two railway stations as part of a privately owned airport rail line. The international terminal railway station is elevated and located next to the international terminal, as is the domestic railway station. Both stations are privately owned and operated by the Airtrain Citylink consortium. As a result, fares are more expensive than a regular suburban ticket however less than half the taxi fare. The AirtrainCitylink travels via the

Queensland Rail City network The Queensland Rail Citytrain network, provides urban, suburban and interurban electric passenger railway services in South East Queensland, Australia. History The first railway in Queensland did not run to Brisbane, but ran from Ipswich to ...

Fortitude Valley Fortitude Valley (often called "The Valley" by local residents) is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the , Fortitude Valley had a population of 9,708 people. The suburb features two pedestr ...

and the Brisbane CBD, with most trains continuing to the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

via South Bank.

Inter-terminal bus

There is an inter-terminal bus connecting the two terminals and the nearby Skygate shopping precinct, DFO and adjacent Novotel Brisbane Airport hotel.

Development projects

New parallel runway

On 18 September 2007, the federal government granted approval for the construction of a new parallel runway. The proposed $1.3 billion, runway was expected to take approximately eight years to construct and was constructed on swamp land west of the existing terminal area and parallel to the existing main runway. The long construction period was due to the settling period of the 13 million cubic metres of sand fill dredged from Moreton Bay. In early December 2014 the delivery of 11 million cubic metres of sand to the site was completed. In 2019, asphalting of the second runway had begun and was completed by late 2019, while mid February 2020 saw the start of the line-marking of the runway. The runway was completed on 30 April 2020 after over eight years of construction at a cost of over $1 billion. It opened officially on Sunday, 12 July 2020, and a

flight to Cairns was the first to take off from the new runway.

Road infrastructure

To help relieve congestion between Brisbane and the airport, the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

, Brisbane City Council, and a Thiess/

John Holland Group The John Holland Group is an infrastructure, building, rail and transport business operating in Australia and New Zealand. Headquartered in Melbourne, it is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction. History The company was founded in ...

Macquarie Bank Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's t ...

consortium (BrisConnections) built the Airport Link project. It includes the longest tunnel in Australia (over ; 6 lanes) from the interchange between the Inner City Bypass and

Clem Jones Tunnel The M7 Clem Jones Tunnel (CLEM7), known during its development as the North-South Bypass Tunnel (NSBT), is a A$3.2 billion motorway grade toll road under the Brisbane River, between Woolloongabba and Bowen Hills in Brisbane, Queensland. ...

(the 2nd longest tunnel in Australia) to the Airport Flyover over an improved Gateway Overpass which leads on to Airport Drive, cutting 16 sets of traffic lights. It was completed in mid-2012. The Northern Access Road project, completed in December 2009, significantly reduces traffic congestion on Airport Drive. Moreton Drive, the , multi-lane road network, linking

Gateway Motorway The Gateway Motorway (M2 to Eight Mile Plains and M1 to Pine River) is a major tolled motorway in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia which includes the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges (former Gateway Bridge). The motorway is operated by toll road opera ...

with the airport terminals, provides airport users with a second major access route to terminals and on-airport businesses.

Cycling Network

Brisbane Airport has cycling and pedestrian connections connecting to the Moreton Bay Bikeway network.

Brisbane Centre

The Brisbane FIR consists of New South Wales north of Sydney, all of Queensland, most of the Northern Territory and the northern half of Western Australia. It also contains the Australian

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea ( Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...

airspace. Brisbane Centre is located adjacent to Brisbane Tower at Brisbane Airport. It also contains Brisbane Approach. Due to the nature of the airspace it controls, most international flights in and out of Australia (except Indian Ocean flights) come under the Brisbane FIR's jurisdiction, as well as domestic flights operating to and from airports within the zone. From Brisbane Centre, Airservices Australia manages the airspace over the northern half of Australia, representing 5 per cent of the world's total airspace. As only two of eight capitals are located in the Brisbane FIR, it handles a lesser volume of traffic than Melbourne Centre. However, Sydney is on the border of the two FIRs, and thus Brisbane Centre has control of flights arriving or departing in Sydney from the North.

Traffic and statistics

Brisbane Airport's annual passenger numbers were 23.1 million in 2017 and is expected to grow to around 50 million by 2035

Awards

Brisbane Airport has won a number of awards; including being rated as Australia's No. 1 airport for quality of service 10 years in a row (2005–2014 inclusive) in a survey by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and being ranked as 3rd Best Airport in the world (for airports servicing between 20–30 million passengers per year). In 2015, it was reported as the fourth-best medium-sized airport for on-time arrivals and departures. The international terminal won the Queensland architecture award. In 2005 Brisbane Airport was awarded the IATA Eagle Award, the second of only two Australian airports to receive such an award.

Accidents and incidents

* On 15 February 2012, a Toll Aviation

Fairchild Metro III The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in Sa ...

freighter came to rest on its fuselage about 2.30 am. Neither of the two pilots was injured. The landing gear on the light plane failed to go down during testing after maintenance. * On 18 July 2018, a Malaysian Airlines

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...

took off from Brisbane with

pitot tube A pitot ( ) tube (pitot probe) measures fluid flow velocity. It was invented by a French engineer, Henri Pitot, in the early 18th century, and was modified to its modern form in the mid-19th century by a French scientist, Henry Darcy. It ...

covers still in place, resulting in unreliable airspeed indications and the aircraft diverting back to Brisbane. Airport ground staff had placed covers on the pitot tubes to prevent mud wasps nesting in them (a common hazard at Brisbane Airport), and the pilots, engineers and ground staff failed to check the covers were removed prior to departure. * On 1 July 2022, an

A380 performing flight 430 from

landed at Brisbane Airport with a hole on the left side of its fuselage. A missing bolt and cap was found on the aircraft's nose landing gear after it parked. Damage allegedly occurred on takeoff and the pilots reported a blown tire before landing, but investigation is ongoing.

Notable people

* Julieanne Alroe, Chief Executive Officer of Brisbane Airport Corporation July 2009 – June 2018

References

External links

Brisbane Airport official websiteBrisbane Airport Retail Management DivisionReview of the international terminal on LateDeparture.com
{{authority control Airports in Queensland 1988 establishments in Australia Airports established in 1988 Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Australia Transport in Brisbane International airports in Australia