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Brisbane’s Airport Expansion Deferred
Brisbane, April 15 – Expansions set for Brisbane airport have been put on hold as the tourism market plunges. Construction worth $700 million on domestic expansion and $1billion on a parallel runway were originally schedule for completion by 2015. But now, all plans have been pushed back by several years.
According to Jim Carden, Brisbane Airports Corporation (BAC) spokesman, “there’s been a softening of the market since, probably, two-thirds of the way through last year.” While the airport has experienced years of 17 percent growth in visitor number, arrival growth had fallen to almost zero growth.
However, BAC says it will push through with the construction in due time. ”Whether we’re going to do it is not an issue – it’s going to happen, but what the last six months or so have shown is, there’s been a softening of passenger numbers and as a result the demand, as in the need for new gates, new aerobridges, new runways, et cetera, gets pushed out proportionately,” says Carden. “It’ll be built when it’s needed, but at the moment the market is saying it isn’t,” he adds.
The delay is expected to add between two to three years to the original time lines. The domestic terminal expansion, which was targeting completion by 2012, would be completed in 2014. The parallel runway, instead of being done by 2015, is estimated to be completed by 2018.
Source:
news.com.au
