Steady passenger growth for BNE in 2011
Brisbane Airport has recorded steady passenger growth for 2011 with a record of almost 20.6 million passengers through its terminals last year, growth of 3.2 per cent on 2010.
Other highlights of 2011 include the addition of Beijing, Dallas Fort Worth and Honolulu to the network, taking Brisbane’s international destinations to 32.
Thirty international and domestic airlines currently service Brisbane Airport.
Despite an eventful year, international passenger growth in 2011 was stronger than in 2010, with visitors from New Zealand, China, South Africa and the USA representing the strongest growth markets.
Australians taking advantage of falls in interest rates, favourable exchange rates and additional services to popular leisure destinations also contributed to the 8.5 per cent growth in resident departures.
The busiest day of the year at the International Terminal came in September with 17,560 arrivals and departures recorded on 18 September.
Domestically, each month saw an increase in passenger numbers year on year, with Narrabri and Armidale added to the network.
The highest load factor on domestic services was between Adelaide and Brisbane.
The fastest growth in passenger numbers for a city pair was on services between Brisbane – Perth.
On the back of the resources boom, seven of the top 10 fastest growing city pairs were intrastate routes with total intrastate traffic volumes growing at 1.5 times that of total interstate traffic volumes.
With a number of important infrastructure projects nearing completion, Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) CEO and Managing Director Julieanne Alroe said Brisbane Airport was well-prepared to meet the demands of future passenger growth.
“Brisbane Airport has invested more than $250 million upgrading the Domestic Terminal precinct in anticipation of the 33 million domestic passengers forecast for 2029.”
“We have recently opened stage one of our brand new multi-level short term car park and will progressively launch upgrades to the Domestic Terminal road network and an elevated ‘skywalk’ between the car park and terminal in the coming weeks and months.”
Planning and design also continues this year as BAC completes the final preparatory stages before embarking on early works for the delivery of the New Parallel Runway.