A380 Emirates out of Brisbane

[hal55]

The news tonight had a story that Brisbane airport has been substantially expanded and is now Australi's second largest. More interesting was the news that much of this expansion was to handle the A380, that they had all facilities in place and that Emirates would be the first airline flying them into Brisbane.
Anyone know when this will happen?

Hal55

 

[Homer]

The news tonight had a story that Brisbane airport has been substantially expanded and is now Australi's second largest.

That doesn't sound right. Maybe second largest in terms of land area or floor space? But not passenger numbers or revenue. I just had a quick look and Brisbane Airport's total passenger numbers were about 6 million short of Melbourne Airport's total for 2008. NPBT was also lower than Melbourne's total. So I don't know what measure could be used to claim that BNE was "second largest".

 

[NM]

This "news" will have been as a result of the official opening of the expansion to the Brisbane International terminal. So I expect the reference to "second biggest" is in terms of facilities at the international terminal.

Apparently EK has opened a new First Class lounge that has direct access from the lounge to the A380 capable boarding gate.

It will be interesting to see how much demand EK has for non-stop services between BNE and DXB. I wonder if they will then operate the A380 trans-Tasman between BNE arrival and departure?

 

[brissyflyer]

I did see reference to a rumour that EK A380 services to Brisbane will happen late next year.

 

[albatross710]

The Brisbane Airport Corp CEO said he didn't expect to see regular A380 operating out of Brisbane until 2010 due to the economic slowdown affecting industry growth.

 

[file51]

FYI, BNE has approx 5-10% more flight movements per day over MEL. It is still far from being a busy airport (compare to say Bankstown in Sydney, which is 10-20 times busier then BNE & MEL combined and is/was Australia's busiest airport).

I would say the 2nd largest phrase would be something to do with land size, thats about it

 

[NM]

I would say the 2nd largest phrase would be something to do with land size, thats about it

I believe the reference was made specifically about the new International terminal expansion at BNE and is based on the floor space of the international terminal compared with other international terminals in Australia. Both BNE and MEL now have 12 gates at their international terminals, but BNE has added an extra 33,000 m2 floor space, surpassing that of MEL.

Nothing has changed recently with regards to land size at MEL or BNE to have altered the ranking of BNE to now be the "second biggest" in Australia. The change is the opening of the extension to the BNE International Terminal and the size quote came out at the press conference relating to that opening on Wednesday this week.

Info on the BNE International Terminal expansion can be found here.

 

[serfty]

Of course, once the MEL international expansion is completed, everyone moves from the swings to the roundabouts ...

 

[NM]

Of course, once the MEL international expansion is completed, everyone moves from the swings to the roundabouts ...

A game of leap-frog, anyone?