Planning Begins on Brisbane Airport Terminal 3

Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) is planning for the future with an estimated 50 million passengers forecast to travel through its terminals each year by 2040.

To cater for this rise in demand, BAC is consulting with its airline partners about the shape of a future Terminal 3.

“We are running out of terminal capacity and we’re looking at the best location, together with our airline partners, for where that new terminal will go. We think it will be in between the two runaways because that’s the perfect location to minimise aircraft taxiing, and it is close to our current domestic terminal,” according to Gert-Jan de Graaff, CEO of Brisbane Airport Corporation.

“We need more domestic capacity to cater for demand. A few of our domestic airlines will likely go into Terminal 3. We might even allocate some international traffic in there as well to provide for better connectivity between domestic and international flights.”

Brisbane is a uniquely positioned hub, flying to 53 Australian destinations, more than any other airport. BNE is also well positioned as a gateway for flights from North America and South East Asia.

Every day around 60,000 people rely on the airport for holidays, to connect with loved ones, to get urgent medical treatment, for business, and for FIFO work.

Queensland’s tourism industry relies on BNE to deliver interstate and overseas guests to support the $23 billion dollar tourism economy which employs 1 in 12 workers.

Every day, farmers and small businesses depend on Brisbane Airport to send their goods around the globe. In the past year $1.9 billion worth of time-critical exports including beef, seafood and manufactured goods were dispatched from BNE.

Today, 24,000 people come to work at Brisbane Airport, and we know there will be another 10,000 jobs created on site in the coming decade.

“Terminal 3 will be state of the art so that will be a terminal we’ve built for the 2030s. Sustainability will be front and centre, as will accessibility. We know that come 2032, Brisbane Airport will provide the first and last impression for all Olympic and Paralympic visitors and we take that responsibility very seriously.”

Currently Brisbane Airport is planning to invest more than $5 billion in the next 10 years to upgrade both terminals, build extra car parking, develop a regional aeromedical hub, expand Skygate and DFO, and build more freight facilities.

“We are well-placed to further develop the airport’s air connectivity to meet travel demand, but equally important is BNE’s connectivity on the ground. All levels of government need to collaborate to ensure fast, reliable and affordable road and public transport connections for travellers and workers to BNE. We need mass transit connections not just to the CBD and Brisbane suburbs, but also the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.”