Million on the move: Brisbane Airport puts Covid behind it as traveller numbers soar
Rocketing air fares were unlikely to hold back what is expected to be a booming two weeks of tourism for Queensland with more than a million people expected to pass through Brisbane Airport’s terminals over the next two weeks.
The favoured destinations were in central and north Queensland.
The airport said the peak times in the domestic terminal (6am-9am and 5pm-7pm) would be at 100 per cent of pre-Covid levels during the holiday period, with around 57,000 people passing through the terminal on peak days.
At the international terminal, daily passenger numbers were forecast to be the highest since pre-Covid 2019 levels.
It said a record 12,300 passengers were forecast on peak days, with international terminal volumes approximately 55 per cent of pre-Covid levels.
Up until now, the busiest day since 2019 was last Sunday, with 11,666 passengers.
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that in July short-term arrivals into Queensland hit 82,000, an increase of almost 18,000 for the month, but still well short of the July 2019 figure of 206,000.
Those predictions would appear to indicate that the 56 per cent increase in airfares the competition watchdog flagged in August was having little impact on travel.
The rise in prices was driven by simultaneous increases in fuel prices, ongoing staff shortages and high demand, even as airlines cut the number of flights to trim capacity by reducing the number of seats in the sky.
Not surprisingly, the most popular destinations over the next two weeks were in the north: Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Proserpine.
Flights to Canada, Bali, New Zealand, Fiji and Europe (via Singapore and the Middle East) were experiencing strong demand, despite high prices.
Brisbane Airport spokesman Stephen Beckett the predicted numbers were a reflection of what people were seeing in their social media feeds _ Queenslanders were on the move.
He said the surge in travellers meant people should prepare.
“We’ve seen a surge in the number of people choosing to drive themselves to Brisbane Airport, because they want to be certain of arriving on time. As a result, our car parks are above 90 per cent capacity daily,” he said.
He said travellers should arrive at 90 minutes before a domestic flight departure and three hours before an international flight.
Taxis and rideshares should also be booked in advance as some travelers had reported delays.
Also, booking car parking as far in advance as possible.
Check in on-line and where possible take carry-on luggage only.
