Brisbane Airport CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff believes Australia’s travel industry is well-positioned for a full recovery next year with combined leisure and business travel now at 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and set to reach 2019 numbers in early 2023.
Mr de Graaff also expects travel to exceed 2019 levels in 2025 and will share his predictions as part of an upcoming keynote presentation at FCTG’s Illuminate2022 conference on 20 October.
“Airlines need time to restart – some countries are still closed or have restrictions – and we need to rebuild the confidence of passengers to get on flights again. However, I am confident that we will see, from 2025 onwards, volumes that will exceed 2019 levels,” he said.
“International travel has also picked up at a slower pace than domestic travel. Currently, we’re back to around 50 per cent of pre-COVID levels.”
While the award-winning Brisbane Airport is seeing fewer corporates flying, Mr de Graaf believes they will return strongly next year.
“What we are seeing now is that people really want to travel and visit Australia for business and leisure,” he said.
“A lot of the corporates haven’t seen their customers and colleagues for the last two and a half years and they’re really keen to get on flights again, develop their businesses and seek new opportunities.”
In his Illuminate presentation, Mr de Graaf will also reveal some of the exciting changes at Brisbane Airport as well as promising forecasts in the lead-up to the 2032 Brisbane Games.
“We are running out of domestic terminal capacity and will require additional international terminal capacity before the Games,” he said.
“My biggest prediction is that when passengers travel in 2032, they will be travelling through a completely new state-of-the-art Brisbane Airport, net zero, or even climate-positive Scope 1 and 2, with new mass transport solutions to and from each terminal.”
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