Scott Norrishas been appointed Brisbane Airport’s new executive general manager commercial

Educated in the UK, holding dual New Zealand and Canadian citizenship, having Australian residency and a British wife Brisbane Airport’s new property chief has landed in Queensland’s gateway.

Scott Norris has been appointed Brisbane Airport’s its new executive general manager commercial.

Scott Norris, who has been appointed Brisbane Airport’s new executive general manager commercial overseeing its multi-billion dollar retail, commercial, parking and industrial development, says he’s a man of many parts.

“I’m a Kiwi with Canadian citizenship, Australian residency, and a British wife, ” he says.

“I’m looking forward to making Brisbane my home as the city is transformed ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and can’t wait to join the BNE team.”

Norris (illustrated) has replaced Martin Ryan who had the job for 14 years before leaving Queensland’s most important gateway to be the chief commercial officer at Abu Dhabi Airports.

Brisbane Airport's new executive general manager Scott Norris.

Norris’ career in airports began at Heathrow while he completed his MBA at Bath University.

He spent four years at Auckland Airport before moving to Perth Airport, where he worked from 2007 to 2016. Subsequently, he joined the Vancouver Airport Authority as vice-president of Commercial Development, before joining the Sunshine Coast Airport team in 2022.

“I’m excited to blend my Australian and international airport background to create a uniquely Brisbane experience for Queensland’s most important gateway,” Norris says.

“With an expansion of terminal capacity on the drawing board to meet a rapidly growing population, this is really a great time to be joining the Brisbane Airport team.”

Norris will officially take up his role at Brisbane Airport on June 30. 

Brisbane Airport is one of the country’s largest by land size, covering 2700ha, with 450ha available for development, and is one of the city’s largest employment hubs.

There are more than $5bn of future BNE investment planned – in refurbishments to existing terminals, development of the region’s best connected commercial land, and much more.

Students

Citybeat’s higher education spies have been out and about and QUT has become a bit of a focus of late with concerns now over what the apparent decline in international students would do to the university’s already trembling bottom line.

According to QUT’s latest annual report the number domestic students who commenced a course and continued in the following year – retained students – increased to 78.9 per cent.

However, according to the report the retention rate for international students dropped to an “unusual and historic” low of 53.6 per cent because of an unusually high number of students

“who did not meaningfully engage from the outset”.

What does this mean? What we can surmise is that less international students means less money and with Albo’s plan to cap international student numbers things could get worse.

Empire

With an expanding portfolio, one of Australia’s oldest private property developers claims they’re now the largest non-government employer on the Redcliffe Peninsula.

Lewis Land Group, which has been around since 1957, says their latest purchase on the Peninsula of Oaks Redcliffe Mon Komo Suites has meant they now have over 350 staff across their venues in the area.

They acquired The Komo Tavern in 2020 and 53 apartments upstairs as well as management rights for the entire 78 over 2024 and 2025.

Chris Allison at the revamped 'The Komo' at Redcliffe.

The expansion adds to their peninsula portfolio which also includes The Belvedere.

The group’s Queensland regional manager – leisure Chris Allison says the latest acquisition marks another significant milestone.

“We’re proud to be the largest non-government employer in the area, with over 350 staff across our venues,” he says.

Originally published as Scott Norrishas been appointed Brisbane Airport’s new executive general manager commercial