Brisbane Airport’s new terminal will offer everything from high-speed trains to aerial taxis for travellers in a deliberate ramp up of transport options to ease pressure on feeder roads.
To be constructed in time for the 2032 Olympics, the new $1 billion terminal will stretch the airport’s capacity to 50 million passengers a year, more than double pre-Covid levels.
Situated to the north of the existing domestic and international terminals and between the two main runways, the building will initially accommodate Australian carriers, Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia.
Brisbane Airport Corporation head of airport planning, Mike Jarvis said the terminal would be ideally suited to Qantas’s non-stop services to Chicago and San Francisco, and offer connectivity between domestic and international traffic.
“The existing domestic and international terminals will continue to operate but the new one will pick up the growth in domestic and some international as well,” Mr Jarvis said.
“For Qantas, having an international facility co-located with domestic in a new terminal is more efficient for the airline and probably a better passenger experience as well.”
In time it was expected other international carriers would move up towards the new terminal, but that was “well into the future”, said Mr Jarvis.
“The (existing) international terminal will continue to be used for the main overseas-based carriers, such as Emirates and Singapore Airlines,” he said.
“There’s still a lot of life in it, still a lot of capacity. It’s a fantastic terminal so it will continue to be used for those carriers.”
What the new terminal would incorporate, was additional transport options for travellers currently not available or in limited supply in other parts of the airport.
Mr Jarvis said Brisbane Airport Corporation was “very aware” of the increasing pressure on roads in and out of the gateway as passenger numbers grew along with the airport precinct workforce.
“A forecast 50 million passengers and 50,000 workers will transit through the airport precinct by the early 2040s,” he said.
“We already have 130,000 car movements a day in and out of the airport and in the future we are going to need mass-transit options to connect to the Brisbane CBD, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and Toowoomba.”
In order to move that many people in and out of the airport, a “multi-modal transport hub” would be established on the site.
Although Mr Jarvis could not rule out expanding existing multi-level carparks, he said other infrastructure would be needed.
“It is critical that the airport is part of the transport plan for the whole of the southeast corner,” he said.
“This means car parks working alongside a bus interchange, high-speed rail with rail lines and stations within the precinct, and even emerging transport technologies like electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) craft.”
Funding for the new terminal would come from retailers, leasing, and aviation funding sources, such as aeronautical charges paid by airlines.
Mr Jarvis said BAC would work with airlines on the plan from day one and continue to do that throughout the project.
“The logic of integrated terminals is always there but we’re yet to see the business case that supports it,” Mr Abrams said.
Construction of the new terminal was not expected to start for another five years, and Mr Jarvis said what they were aiming for, was an “efficient, sustainable terminal” incorporating the latest self-service technology.
“We’re using the best parts of modern airport design. That’s really what we’re trying to move towards.”
Brisbane Airport was expected to invite community input into plans for the new terminal and surrounds, with details to be announced soon.
Originally published in the Herald Sun HERE.