Brisbane Airport is the primary international airport serving Brisbane and South East Queensland. The airport services 31 airlines flying to 50 domestic and 29 international destinations, 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. BNE covers an area of 2,700 hectares (6,672 acres), making the airport the largest in land area in all of Australia.
Brisbane Airport is a major hub for both Virgin Australia and Qantas (formerly Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services), and a secondary hub for Qantas' low cost subsidiary Jetstar. 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 general aviation terminal and apron as well as two runways. JETGO Australia also operated from Brisbane Airport until its demise in 2018.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service 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 that was built in 1925 on former agricultural land in the suburb of Eagle Farm located north-east of Brisbane, south-west of Brisbane Airport's Domestic Terminal. Although Qantas started operations there in 1926, most of the flights in Brisbane operated at the Archerfield Airport, which contained a superior landing surface. While in operation, Charles Kingsford Smith landed at Eagle Farm on 9 June 1928, after completing the first trans-pacific flight in his Fokker F.VII, the Southern Cross. There is now a museum containing the original aircraft, along with a memorial located within the Brisbane Airport precinct.
During the Second World War, Brisbane was the headquarters of the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in the South West Pacific Area, General Douglas MacArthur. The United States Armed Forces 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 (e.g., at 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. The final flight from the Eagle Farm Airport departed on March 20, 1988.
1988 opening
The Federal Government announced the construction of Brisbane Airport to be built immediately north east of Eagle Farm Airport. Construction commenced in June 1980. The new airport was built by Leighton Contractors at a cost of AU$400 million and opened on March 19, 1988, with a new domestic terminal and two runways. The opening was hosted by Prime Minister Bob Hawke. 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 to raise the swamp land above the tidal range.
The 1988 facilities included: a domestic terminal; state-of-the-art maintenance facilities; freight apron at the existing passenger terminal; two runways ( and ) with parallel taxiway systems (cater for Code F+ aircraft); access roads; parking facilities and a tall air traffic control tower.
In September 1995, the international terminal was inaugurated by Prime Minister Paul Keating, and it has been expanded since that time.