Airtrain negotiations back on after Bailey breakdown

On-again, off-again discussions between the state government and Airtrain to end the private company’s monopoly on public transport to Brisbane Airport are on again, with the transport minister confirming negotiations are back on the table.

Brisbane Times revealed in 2022 the state government was negotiating to bring Airtrain’s 35-year exclusivity agreement, signed by the Borbidge Liberal-National Coalition government in 1998, to a premature end.

It costs $21.90 to catch the Airtrain to Brisbane Airport from inner-city stations.

Those negotiations under former transport minister Mark Bailey broke down in November, but his successor Bart Mellish said on Friday the topic was – potentially – back on the table.

“In terms of the contract itself – and getting out of that contract – it would have to be a commercial negotiation,” he said.

“It wouldn’t be the state necessarily naming their price and then that’s the price that we pay.

“It would have to be a commercial discussion, a commercial negotiation, so we’re having that discussion.

“But we’re also having discussion about what can we do to improve services. What can we do to reduce fares? And what can we do to benefit commuters going to and from the airport?”

The 8.5-kilometre train line was completed in 2001 for about $200 million and, in return for building the infrastructure, Airtrain got the promise of 35 years’ worth of fares.

Patronage never lived up to expectation and UK pension fund Universities Superannuation Scheme bought Airtrain for $109 million in 2012.

But network changes due to the introduction of Cross River Rail would result in the loss of one of Airtrain’s selling points – a direct connection to the Gold Coast.

That link not only formed a major part of Airtrain’s business case, but was also, it was understood, part of its contract with the Queensland government.

That raised the prospect of legal action against the government, which started the high-level negotiations to bring Airtrain into public hands before the contract’s end date.

Critics point to the price – $21.90 one way to and from Central Station – as an impediment to patronage, with taxis and rideshares often a cheaper option, particularly for multiple passengers.

Airtrain declined to comment.