Goodbye golden gateway: Big changes ahead for Brisbane Airport

International travellers departing Brisbane will soon have a very different security experience, with screening and passport control to be moved up to the same level as the airline check-in desks.

And as part of the revamp, Brisbane’s most photographed golden gateway will make way for a 7.5-metre “departures beacon” leading travellers to the new security point.

Brisbane Airport Corporation chief executive Gert-Jan de Graaff will present the plans to 450 visiting airline executives at the newly opened Star event centre at Queen’s Wharf on Thursday morning as part of a pitch to attract more services to the Queensland capital.

“Our international terminal is Queensland’s gateway to the world,” he said.

“After three decades of service, it is well and truly time for a transformation, ensuring it’s ready to welcome the world for years to come.”

The extra space on level four, where the check-in desks were located, would enable the installation of next-generation computed tomography security screening equipment that wouldn’t fit in the current security area on level three.

The existing golden gateway will be replaced by a 7.5-metre “departures beacon”. Credit: BAC

“Travellers will enjoy less hassle with the new screening system, by keeping laptops and other electronic items in their bags. It’s faster, smoother, and provides more accurate screening,” de Graaff said.

The first row of new self-service check-in kiosks and bag drops have already been installed by multinational travel tech company Amadeus, de Graaff said.

“The feedback from travellers and airline staff has been fantastic,” he said. “It’s a giant leap from the 1990s to now.”

Amadeus senior vice-president Sarah Samuel said flexible cloud infrastructure and “advanced self-service options” would help improve passengers’ airport experience.

Brisbane Airport’s Insta-famous golden gateway.Credit: Jocelyn Garcia

“Brisbane is a great example of an airport with a long-term transformation strategy that places the traveller at the heart of the experience,” Samuel said.

Downstairs, the space currently occupied by passport control and security screening will be taken by an expanded Lotte Duty Free, which will nearly double in size.

“There is nothing in the Brisbane store design that has similarity to any other place,” said Stephen Timms, chief executive of Lotte Travel Retail, Oceania.

“It will be a bespoke design capturing the flavour of Brisbane.”

Work in the terminal will be staged to minimise disruption, with the security screening changes due to be completed by December 2025, while other upgrades will likely be finished by 2027.

The planned upgrade to the security screening area at Brisbane’s international terminal.Credit: BAC

BAC would not reveal the cost of the work, other than to say it formed part of the airport’s $5 billion Future BNE strategy.

Also included in that strategy will be a third terminal, to be built between the existing domestic terminal and the new parallel runway.

De Graaff said planning for Terminal 3 was well under way.

An expanded Lotte Duty Free will take over space currently occupied by security screening and passport control.Credit: BAC

“Eventually, we will integrate domestic and international passengers into this new facility,” he said.

“We need to determine whether this integration will happen from day one or in stages. What we know for sure is that sustainability and accessibility will be baked into the design of Terminal 3.”