Brisbane Airport in negotiations to boost international routes with passenger numbers below pre-Covid levels

Close to 5000 international passengers are landing in Brisbane each day, as Covid restrictions ease, but the city still has a long way to go to return to pre-pandemic levels. Here’s how it’s planning to get those numbers back up.

About 5000 international passengers are coming through Brisbane Airport every day, but it is still well below pre-pandemic levels as negotiations continue to lure more airlines back to the Sunshine State.

The state government announced on Monday that it would be launching a series of campaigns aimed at getting New Zealanders back to Queensland to boost visitor numbers.

As tens of thousands of passengers stream through the domestic airport amid the busy Easter holiday period, international passenger numbers in Brisbane are only sitting at about an average of 5000 per day.

International passenger numbers in Brisbane are sitting at an average of about 5000 per day.

Brisbane Airport Corporation’s Rachel Crowley acknowledged the international figures were still significantly down from pre-Covid levels.

“But certainly it’s an awful lot better than our very worst days of the pandemic,” she said.

“We would average pre-pandemic between 17,000 and 20,000 international passengers a day – so it is a long way off that and it will take some years likely to build back to those sorts of numbers.”

Ms Crowley said the airport was in continued negotiations in a bid to bring back more international carriers to Brisbane.

She suggested the current state of the global aviation industry was “very competitive and complex”, with many destinations fighting it out to get airlines back to their airports.

“I won’t be flagging too many (airlines) that we’re in the middle of negotiations with,” Ms Crowley said.

“We need to get Brisbane Airport back to being the major gateway for our state – but also one of the most important gateways for the country as a whole.”

The state government has set aside $100m, along with another $100m from Queensland’s four largest airports, in order to secure more direct international flights to the Sunshine State.

The 5000 international passengers per day are coming from a mix of countries, including those from New Zealand, as well as connections from European countries.

The New Zealand arrival numbers are still down about 90 per cent from where they were pre-pandemic, with the government hopeful of a strong bounce back.

Most of the businesses and outlets operating in the international terminal are now open, with about a handful that remain closed.