Prologue: Few projects in an airport commercial executive’s career could rank as challenging and exciting as ‘Future BNE’ – Brisbane Airport’s profoundly ambitious A$5 billion (US$3.3 billion) development over the coming decade. The overarching programme includes over more than 150 individual but interwoven projects, making it by far the biggest and most complex in the Queensland airport’s history.
Future BNE will upgrade both the Domestic and International terminals and plan the development of a new Terminal 3 precinct as Brisbane, Queensland and Australia look forward to hosting the 2032 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Brisbane Airport Executive General Manager Commercial Martin Ryan and Head of Commercial Property Development Toby Innes are at the heart of the action, driving a transformational overhaul of the consumer proposition. The Moodie Davitt Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie caught up with them during a recent visit to understand more about the changes that lie ahead and the vision that underpins them.
“I feel like we are doing a home renovation but on a very large scale.” Brisbane Airport Corporation General Manager Commercial Martin Ryan’s wry understatement neatly encapsulates the task as the company forges ahead with the biggest development in its 36-year history.
Not only a very large home but one in which the residents – in this case passengers and airport stakeholder staff – will remain in-situ throughout. Retail, food & beverage and other commercial services form an integral element of the A$5 billion (US$3.3 billion) Future BNE transformation of the entire airport, which includes upgrades to both terminals, planning for a new Terminal 3, plus an array of landmark industrial and commercial developments.
“It’s an exciting time,” Ryan says as he and Head of Commercial Property Development Toby Innes guide me through some of the demanding structural changes that lie ahead while previewing the commercial opportunities.
“It’s certainly the most complex development that we’ve ever done. The commercial, non-aeronautical aspects represent roughly half of the capital programme, generating significant sums of projected revenues in the future.
{Click on the YouTube icon to view Brisbane Airport’s spectacular animation portraying the dramatic revamp of its International Terminal as part of the Future BNE transformation}
“It’s an area that allows us to focus on what we do well, and bring out the talents of everybody in the team to make sure we can deliver it.”
This massive before and after exercise is designed to create a world-class international and domestic hub by the time the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games roll round in 2032.
“There was a real surge of excitement when the Olympics hosting was originally announced, now we’re going through the phase of working out how to deliver everything that everyone wants us to do,” Ryan says.
“And that’s not just about us being Brisbane Airport. That’s us being Brisbane. We’re about to head into multiple delivery programmes to make sure we are ready and I’m confident everything will be.
“We like to say it’s not about the four weeks of the Olympics and Paralympics; it’s really about the confidence the events give in the city for businesses to invest and grow. We’ll go through probably [the equivalent of] three or four decades of growth in the next decade because of the Olympics.”
That will involve large infrastructure projects across the city, a time-compressed revolution of leisure, hospitality and restaurant services and much more, Ryan says. And the global springboard to that transformation is Brisbane Airport.
“We are very focused on the fact that people will land in Australia and we are the first thing they’ll see. After the event, we will be the last thing they’ll see on their way home. So we want to make sure that experience is reflective of the image we plan to leave with the rest of the world.”
No pressure then. But in fact Ryan, Innes and the whole Brisbane team are embracing a challenge on a scale that few aviation professionals will ever experience over an entire career.
“I was pondering this while I was waiting for you,” says Ryan as we gaze down over an international retail zone that will undergo a metamorphosis in coming years, including a new 3,900sq m walk-through departures store run by Lotte Duty Free. “I don’t think anyone’s ever done the renovation of an airport to the size and scale of what we’re doing.
“We’re doing everything from the landside roads to the car parks, through to check-in, border security and retail. Everything’s changing and being renewed across four levels, even including the baggage systems downstairs. So it’s almost like a full gut and refit of the whole terminal.
“We will be finished by 2026-27. The compliance requirements around security and baggage security will be 2025. Then other things will follow.
“And remember, we are a 24/7 airport so that makes it even more challenging. We don’t close. We’ve got some four-hour windows at the moment for night works, which move around.
“So from a contractor point of view, it’s challenging to get people to want to work in the middle of the night for short stints, which reflects in the costs to deliver the infrastructure. But it makes more sense to keep open than to try and close down sections.” {Main story continues after the panel below}
Brisbane booms as an international travel hubBrisbane Airport’s future looks even brighter following the publication of a new report from FCM Travel, the large-market corporate travel division of Flight Centre Travel Group, which reveals a big upswing in international travel and a drop in the cost of airfares from Brisbane. According to exclusive new corporate booking data, international outbound bookings from the Sunshine Capital were up +38% year-on-year in the first half of 2024 and inbound bookings by more than +50% in the first half of 2024. The growth in bookings comes alongside a notable decrease in airfare prices from Brisbane, with international economy tickets dropping by -13% over the same period last year and business class fares by -5%. FCM Travel General Manager ANZ Renos Rologas said the growth in bookings and fares is a positive sign for the Brisbane economy, and lower fares was great news for travellers. But more seat capacity is needed to ensure the trend continues, he cautioned.  “Brisbane’s international airline seat capacity is currently at 90% of what it was before the pandemic, which has it slightly lagging behind the Australian average of 96%,” he commented.  “I have no doubt that this news today will encourage both our international and domestic carriers to add more flights and more new routes in and out of Brisbane, which will of course drive more choice and better fares for travellers. “As we often see with airfares, there are certainly winners and losers, so it pays to know which destinations are seeing the biggest rate of savings. “For example, San Francisco, Dubai, Paris, Rome and Auckland are seeing the biggest drops, with savings of up to 26% on economy tickets on those routes. But flights to Port Moresby have been getting more expensive for travellers, and that’s coming down to the sheer amount of demand we’re seeing on that route, which is one of the most popular across corporate travellers. “The top international destinations for FCM Travel customers departing from Brisbane in the first half of 2024 were Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. “These trends not only reflect the resilience and strength of the travel sector but also underscore the growing confidence of businesses in international markets, and we’re committed to facilitating seamless connection across the globe for all of our travellers.” According to Oxford Economics, Brisbane’s economy has outperformed most other APAC cities over recent years, and this trend is expected to continue with economic growth of around 24% forecast from 2024 to 2032. |
Looking at the blueprints and renderings, the breadth, complexity and sheer ambition of the structural work alone is impressive enough. But what will take place inside this new-look building is what really whets both men’s appetites.
Airside departures in the International Terminal will feature an all-new retail offer, including quick-service restaurants, a bar, travel essentials, a luggage store and a foreign exchange unit.
Next up is what Ryan dubs the “icon entrance” to central security. Once cleared, passengers will come through a new atrium space and down into retail, starting with the vast expanse of the Lotte Duty Free walk-through offer, followed immediately by a speciality retail zone conveniently integrated with food & beverage, including a dark kitchen, and common seating.
The revamped offer will be in line with the airport’s commitment to providing diversity of choice and price points.
Ryan and Innes are particularly excited about the 980sq m of retail space that lies immediately post duty free. “It’s the largest space and it’s a big experiment but I think it will be really expansive, really successful,” Ryan comments.
“The idea is to create a marketplace-type environment where a retailer can have multiple elements within the one space. It will be the first thing you see as you come out of duty free and it gives us an opportunity to create something unique.”
Any clues on what kind of unique? That depends on what the RFPs generate conceptually, Ryan replies, adding: “Probably the closest thing we can imagine it to is Howard Smith Wharves in Brisbane [a contemporary downtown waterside development set on the banks of the Brisbane River, replete with restaurants, bars, cafés, event spaces and a brewery -Ed], which is a mixture of public space and food & beverage offerings. You have grassed areas so you can just come with the family, put the blanket out and experience the areas.
“So for us it will be a mixture of commercial – making money out of your square metres – and consumer experience at scale. There are some interesting opportunities and the retailers we’ve shown the concept to so far are pretty excited about it.”
Innes builds on that description, likening the area to Time Out Markets around the world – a multi-national concept created by the British publishing and hospitality company that seeks to bring the best of a city’s F&B offering – top chefs and concepts, good food and drinks and an experiential vibe – together in one zone.
{Click on the podcast icon to hear Brisbane Airport Corporation CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff in conversation with Martin Moodie shortly after the airport company celebrated its renewed partnership with Lotte Duty Free}
“It’s about curating an F&B experience, providing a place for people to dwell whatever their journey is,” Innes explains. “It’s almost a blank canvas. We are not too prescriptive in how we approach RFPs. We say, ‘You are the retailer, you’re the expert, you tell us.’
“OK, we’ll have something in mind as we should but we won’t necessarily tell you what it is. We don’t want to sway you. We’re Brisbane, which is a long way from much of the world. These people run big businesses and have lots of experience around the world developing different types of concepts. So we say, bring that to us in a way that makes sense for this terminal.”
Ryan adds: “That’s a similar approach to how we did duty free. We said, ‘Here’s the opportunity. We’ve listened to everything you said. You want X, Y and Z and we’re giving you that; in fact we’re giving you more space than you actually need. So show us how you can utilise that space to create a unique experience.’”
As reported, Lotte Duty Free, the long-time incumbent (through its acquisition of JR/Duty Free in late 2018), responded to that challenge through creating a business proposal anchored by an interior design that infuses Brisbane culture, history and nature.
“We set out to create something that hadn’t been done before. Brisbane doesn’t have an icon like the Sydney Harbour Bridge or the Opera House. It has a kind of contemporary feel,” observes Lotte Duty Free Oceania Chief Executive Officer Stephen Timms, speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report later in our visit.
“We believe we have designed something which encapsulates that total contemporary feel. When you come down into this new store, it will be enveloped by Brisbane itself. It will be obvious but at the same time subliminal. And the experiences that you see through the store will take you on a journey unlike anything else that’s been done before in duty free.”
Asked how acute the focus on a distinctly Brisbane offering will need to be across other tenders, Ryan replies: “I think the overall look and feel of the terminal is going to dictate that. The sense of place of Brisbane is going to be there but it will vary across categories.
“A travel convenience store, for example, doesn’t have to scream Brisbane, it just needs to scream travel convenience. However 90% of the store is going to feature packaged goods, drinks, books, small accessories and so on that may have a bit of Brisbane in them.
“Whereas for a food & beverage operator, we just want it to be the best it possibly can be. If there’s something reflective of that in Brisbane, great, and all the menus and produce should absolutely be from Brisbane or south-east Queensland to showcase the region.
“But it doesn’t have to be a case of taking an iconic local restaurant and putting it here. It’s about getting the mix right, based on whatever is going to be successful.”
Innes adds: “Within the international terminal, some level of global branding is important because not every customer is from Brisbane and international travellers sometimes just want something quick and reliable that they’re familiar with. Whether that’s a fast-food burger or a bread product, something that gives them a level of comfort.”
Technological advances have had a profound impact on the world’s kitchens over recent years and airports are no different, Ryan points out.
“As technology changes in kitchens, what can be done in a lot smaller space is now completely different,” he observes. “We’re also looking at the opportunity of an offsite [underneath the public area -Ed] prep area so the main kitchen can be more of a public showcase.”
Innes adds: “Currently they have to prep, cook and dispose of everything in a limited space. So then the menu gets to a point where it’s limited. That’s where technology becomes really important.
“With, for example, The Independent [SSP/Airport Retail Enterprises’ recently opened new Domestic Terminal restaurant featuring menus from a revolving roster of nationally acclaimed Australian chefs and emerging local talents -Ed] kitchen, it’s about giving the chefs the tools they need to deliver the different things that help them take things to the next level.
“With all this change we’re doing, we have to take all our partners on the journey. That’s because we’re creating disturbance and disturbance creates both challenge and opportunity.
“We’ve got a long period of time ahead of us – in fact, a couple of years, though it will go past in the blink of an eye – in which we need to take everyone on that journey with us, whether it’s a retailer, an airline, a ground services handler or a digital media provider.
“There are lots of unintended consequences of development. You can’t catch everything first time around; issues will arise and we need to work together to create a better outcome for everyone.”
As our conversation draws to a close we return to the Olympics theme. “I think with everything we’re going to put in place, it will be pretty exciting to show it off to the rest of the world as well,” Ryan comments. “It used to be a common thing here to say Brisbane is easier to experience than to talk about. But I think it’ll be just as easy to talk about as to experience in years to come.
“Pre-COVID, this international terminal was roughly 6 million passengers a year, which we’re approaching again [for the financial year ended 30 June, it served 5.6 million passengers, 89% of 2019 levels -Ed]. That will grow to 10-11 million passengers. So this work sets us up for that sort of growth.
“The last development here was in 2015 [a A$45 million face-lift], when we put in the Brisbane tuff [a famed local volcanic stone, created more than 200 million years ago]. This terminal is such a beautiful architectural building with such openness. We want to protect that. So how do we do it? And how do we bring it all to life?”
Those answers will play out in the months and years ahead, a prospect Ryan and Innes are clearly relishing and are extremely proud of. “It’s certainly going to be one of those projects that when I’m retired and travelling through Brisbane Airport to multiple destinations around the world, I will be able to say, ‘I had a little bit to do with some of those elements that are in the terminal’,” Ryan concludes.
A little? Make that a lot. That home renovation is coming along well. ✈
