Brisbane airport CEO warns rebuilding international travel will take years

As Queensland gears up to reopen the state’s international border on Saturday, the CEO of Brisbane airport has a stern warning.

With Queensland’s international border reopening in just days, the boss of the state’s biggest airport has shared a grim forecast about how long pre-pandemic flight levels will take to reach.

From 1am on Saturday, Queensland will reopen their international borders for both vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers.

Speaking to media on Wednesday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said fully vaccinated international travellers will be able to enter Queensland without quarantine. However, a rapid antigen test will be required within the first 24 hours.

Unvaccinated international arrivals, however, will still be required to undertake 14 days quarantine.

Queensland will reopen their international border from Saturday. Picture: Brendan Radke

Ms Palaszczuk said reopening international travel was to not just see families reunited, but to give businesses certainty.

“This gives added certainty as well for our business community,” she told reporters.

“A lot of business people have been wanting to travel overseas for various things and likewise people coming here. This gives them added certainty as well now to be able to freely opt to go overseas and come back and not have to do the 14 days.”

But Brisbane Airport Corporation CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff said that while the announcement was “very good news for Queensland”, the tourism industry is in for a long journey before reaching pre-pandemic travel levels again.

“Rebuilding international travel into and out of Brisbane Airport will take many months, as we will need destinations for Australians and inbound market nations to reopen,” he told the Courier Mail.

The CEO of Brisbane airport has a grim prediction for international travel.

“We are not expecting to return to 2019 route and passenger levels until 2024. We think the visiting friends and family sector will be the first to jump at this chance and hop on a plane to Queensland.”

Despite the slow restart, December had the strongest month for travel since the start of the pandemic.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, provisional Australian Bureau of Statistics data revealed there were 197,000 arrivals to the country and 229,000 departures in the last month of 2021.

The overseas travel movement saw an uptick as international lockdowns eased to its highest levels since March 2020 when the border was closed. But despite the stronger month, visitors were still at levels far below those seen in 2019.

Following the reopening of international borders in NSW and Victoria in November to fully vaccinated Australian citizens and permanent residents – including the elimination of the 14-days of hotel quarantine – Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said reaching 2019 levels of travel again will be a slow burn.

The CEO of Sydney airport also said reaching the 2019 levels of travel will be a slow burn Picture: Gaye Gerard/NCA Newswire

“What we are seeing with forward seat capacity from Sydney, we think we will be upwards of 60 per cent recovered by the end of the year,” Mr Culbert said in an interview with news.com.au in October ahead of the NSW international border reopening.

“International will be a bit slower. We will be around 20 or 30 per cent recovered by the end of the year and growing from there into the new year.”

The airport boss said there is still apprehension when it comes to international flights, because airlines and passengers alike are still coming to terms with the new settings around overseas travel.

“They want clarity on the testing regimens and what restrictions might apply,” Mr Culbert said.”

In a study conducted by the University of Queensland in November, the process of travelling abroad coupled with the fear of getting stuck in a foreign country resulted in a “lukewarm” approach to overseas travel.

The online survey of 560 Australians showed just 51 per cent plan to travel overseas now international borders are open.

Associate Professor Gabby Walters of the university’s business school said the results also showed that 33 per cent of Australians would prefer to travel domestically, while 16 per cent said they would not travel at all.