A long awaited infrastructure milestone that had been closely watched by owner occupiers and investors alike will finally happen on July 12th. The new parallel runway at the Brisbane Airport will officially open, welcoming in a new age for the Brisbane Airport, but also most importantly for Brisbane and surrounding regions. With 24 million current passenger movements, the additional runway lays the groundwork for a planned 50 million passenger movements by 2040. This huge increase will be a shot of adrenaline to the Brisbane and wider south east Queensland property market.
Over eight years of hard work will finally pay off as the new parallel runway at Brisbane Airport is opened. The final stage of construction has begun this week, with work on the runway and accompanying taxiway’s line markings now underway (and expected to use over 6,780 liters of paint over 120 kilometres of markings). Ground lighting, navigational aids and control tower systems are also in their last stages of preparation as work begins to wrap up.
Coming in at $200 million under budget, the $1.1 billion runway is a significant milestone for the airport given that it has taken over 40 years for it to come into fruition.
Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) chief executive Gert-Jan de Graaff said, “It’s surreal to think we are just months away from seeing the first aircraft land and depart on this infrastructure masterpiece.”
Mr de Graff said the runway would create about 7,800 jobs by 2035 and an additional $5 billion in annual economic benefit to the region.
“We are seeing first-hand that the new runway is bringing more flights, destinations and choices for the travelling public, and this growth will only strengthen from 12 July 2020,” he said.
Mr de Graff said he was conscious of community concern over more aircraft noise.
“BAC has always been incredibility proactive in keeping our community informed about the project and aircraft noise, and we will continue our extensive community engagement program well after the runway itself opens, generating honest and informed conversations about the new flight paths,” he said.
Mr de Graff said Brisbane residents could visit BAC’s Flight Path Tool for information such as aircraft volume forecasts and expected noise footprints for current and future flight paths. This will be particularly useful for anyone planning on buying in the area to capitalise on the new runway, to ensure they pick a project that won’t suffer from the current and new flight paths.
Before take-off, people can take part in a five-kilometre “runway fun run” and a free community open day. Numbers will be limited.
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