Brisbane Airport to slash a quarter of jobs as COVID-related travel crisis continues
More than 100 positions have been axed by Brisbane Airport Corporation as the COVID-related travel crisis continues, but the corporation’s CEO says there is a “glimmer of hope”.
QLD Business
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BRISBANE Airport Corporation has cut a quarter of its workforce, hit hard by COVID reductions in travel, as well as wrapping up construction of its new $1.1 billion parallel runway.
More than 100 positions have gone, with BAC saying they include “a large number of vacant positions that will not be filled” as well as redundancies.
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“The majority of roles were vacant and will not be filled, some were contracts that will not be renewed, and there were some redundancies,” BAC said in a statement.
“We emphasise that we have not cut 25 per cent of the existing staff but it is indeed 25 per cent of the number of roles we would have expected to have had by the end of this year.
“A recruitment freeze was put in place at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant more than 30 roles were not filled.
“Of the rest of the BAC workforce, we have had a 15 per cent reduction with nearly half of these taken as voluntary redundancies.”
There will be no impact on passengers or other airport users, BAC says.
“The successful completion of our new runway, our largest ever construction project, has seen a natural attrition of project staff engaged specifically to deliver the project,” the airport says.
“We also re-scaled our planned capital works program to reflect lower passenger forecasts for
the coming years. And the immediate impact of COVID-19 in passenger numbers has also had
an impact.
“The reduction in positions at BAC will not impact customer service, safety or security.”
Announcing BAC’s passenger numbers for the 2019-20 financial year last month, chief executive officer Gert-Jan de Graaff said Brisbane and other airports had been hit hard by COVID.
Pre-COVID, the busiest day at the Domestic Terminal October 4 2019, was a record high of 63,525 arrivals and departures. At the height of border closures and travel restrictions, the Domestic Terminal recorded its quietest day on April 12 with only 31 passengers.
“While we are seeing a glimmer of hope with slowly growing schedules and passengers, full recovery to pre-COVID passenger numbers will take many, many years,” Mr de Graaff said then.
“While COVID continues to present much uncertainty in terms of border closures and travel restrictions, there is one thing I am certain of, the resilience of the aviation industry, and the adaptability of our team.
“We have kept the lights on and our airfield fully operational during the darkest of days, ensuring essential health, repatriation and freight flights could continue.
“With the recent opening of our new runway giving us the most efficient runway system in Australia, Brisbane Airport is without a doubt the most important driver and catalyst for the city and state as we move together towards industry and economic recovery.”