2020 (Current) Contributions of Brisbane Airport to Queensland’s Economy
Brisbane Airport. An internationally renowned airport, ranked 18th best in the world as of 2018. It is the main international airport in South East Queensland, supporting 33 airlines to 84 destinations.
It has many economic contributions to the state economy that have resulted in the airport being cemented into the economy. The two most significant economic contributions are listed below.
- Jobs. Over 400 businesses, large and small, are found in-airport. They range in their offers of goods and services, ranging from coffee houses to foreign currency exchanges. These businesses, including the airport itself, employ 23,000 people in total directly. This converts into $1.5 billion directly earned as wages, with an additional $818 million earned indirectly by another 11,000 people. The airport itself, directly and indirectly, is responsible for approximately 5% of all employment across Queensland. This has resulted in wealth creation across the state.
The number of people employed directly at the airport is projected to grow by 3.1% per annum until 2040 to a total of over 46,000 jobs.
- Aircraft movements. In FY18-19, there were over 23.4 million passengers passing through Brisbane Airport across both domestic and international flights, thereby generating revenue for Brisbane Airport in the form of airline fees, which comprise majority of the airport’s revenue. Most of the revenue generated are retained in Queensland in a) the airport itself as retained revenue b) wages, as over 90% of all in-airport workers live in South East Queensland. The aircraft-movement sources of revenue are;
a. Domestic flights. In FY18-19, domestic flights composed 72% of all aircraft movements in Brisbane Airport, each of which generated $105,000 on average for the airport. Majority of people arriving in Brisbane Airport from other states (39%) arrived on holiday, while the next biggest demographic under domestic visitors were VFR (visiting friends and relatives), which comprised 33% of domestic passengers.
b. International flights. In FY18-19, international flights composed 16% of all Brisbane Airport’s aircraft movements, each flight generating $620,000 for Brisbane Airport. 52% of international flights were Australian residents leaving the country (usually for holidays), while the other 48% was made of international visitors. The most notable country in this group is China, which composed 19% of all international visitors to Brisbane airport (the most of any country) while being the highest growth-market country in 2018, increasing 20% in terms of passengers when compared to 2017 (the highest of any country).
c. General aviation services. This is a service Brisbane Airport runs, but is not open to the public. It includes operations such as surveying, instructional flying, photographical purposes, etc. It composes 12% of all aircraft movements across Brisbane Airport
The Brisbane Airport contributes to the Queensland economy by both generating income through aircraft movement and by supporting and generating jobs. These contributions among others have resulted in a total economic contribution to the state economy of a whopping $4.7 billion per annum, which is estimated to account for 1.3% of the Queensland Gross State Product (QLD-GSP). This $4.7 billion is anticipated to grow by 3.1% per annum continuously until 2040, where the estimated economic contribution to the QLD-GSP will be $8.7 billion. Due to the increase in revenues and economic contribution by 3.1%, this will increase the 23,000 in-airport workers by 3.1% as well, as aforementioned.
The Brisbane Airport, in the opening words of the Brisbane Airport 2020 Preliminary Draft Master Plan, “…is Queensland’s major aviation and business hub…”. Any consideration of Brisbane City proper must include the Brisbane Airport. A supporter and creator of jobs as well as a notable contributor to the state economy, it truly deserves its place in the world’s top 20 airports.
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