Brisbane Airport CEO: one daily Qatar Airways flight is not enough

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW | ‘One a day is not enough!’ These are the words of Brisbane Airport CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff when asked about Qatar Airways’ operations at Queensland’s busiest airport. Of course, the BNE boss refers to Australia’s current bilateral air traffic agreements with the State of Qatar, which effectively prevent the airline’s growth in the Sunshine State.

Under the current agreement, carriers based in Qatar are allowed up to 28 return direct flights per week across Australia’s four busiest airports. Qatar Airways, Qatar’s national carrier, is using those rights in full. It also has authorisation for an additional service that begins and ends in another Australian city, but which flies through one of those key airports. It uses this to operate an additional daily Doha-Melbourne-Adelaide flight, on which passengers can fly solely between Melbourne and Doha.

But combined, and even with what amounts to five non-stop services between the big cities and Qatar, the airline is in a holding pattern. Current traffic rights prevent any further growth from Australia’s busiest airports. Every flight that the airline operates to one city means an extra departure that it can’t run from another city. For instance, under the cap, every flight to Perth or Brisbane comes as a sacrifice from offering more flights from the likes of Sydney or Melbourne.

It’s widely publicised that the Australian Government declined a recent request to increase the traffic rights available to Qatari carriers. At a similar time, granting significant traffic rights for airlines based in Türkiye, to the benefit of Qatar Airways’ rival, Turkish Airlines. Australia also maintains higher traffic caps for airlines based in the United Arab Emirates, compared to the caps for Qatar – advantaging both Emirates and Etihad Airways.

I sit down with de Graaff at the recent CAPA Airline Leader Summit in Brisbane to chat more about flights to Doha and beyond.

Brisbane ready for more flights to Qatar

Clearly, there’ll be no surprise that the CEO of Brisbane Airport is in favour of more flights from Brisbane Airport. ‘That’s my main interest,’ de Graaff readily admits. ‘We would be very interested in seeing Qatar operating (more flights) from Brisbane.’

‘I think we deserve it. We’ve been missing out on that second flight of Qatar for a very long time. Qatar had been instrumental during the pandemic in keeping Brisbane connected with the rest of the world when some of the airlines were not able to operate. Qatar actually started up (in Brisbane during the pandemic) and did a tremendous job in providing repatriation services to passengers as well as bringing the required pharmaceuticals to Brisbane.’

‘I think they deserve it, and I think we deserve it. In terms of Qatar, ‘one a day is not enough, especially given the partnership with Virgin Australia. It would be fantastic to see a double daily coming. That’s also the ambition; the wish of Qatar to do so. But currently the bilateral doesn’t permit it.’

As for that Virgin Australia partnership, the two carriers have made something of a cheeky proposal to the Australian Government. Similar to how Qantas utilises Finnair planes on some of its flights to Asia, Virgin Australia has proposed to do the same between Australia and Doha aboard Qatar Airways’ aircraft. In effect, Virgin Australia would take charge of the ‘marketing’, with Qatar Airways doing the ‘operating’ (flying).

‘Discussions about that are continuing,’ de Graaff says, speaking about additional flights between Australia and Qatar. I ask whether de Graaff would like to see an increase to the bilateral caps across the board, or if just allowing one more flight to Brisbane would do the trick.

‘If that would be the only change to bilateral caps,’ speaking of one extra daily flight to Brisbane, ‘I would be perfectly happy with that. That’s our main interest.’

Even more demand from Brisbane to the broader Middle East

This year, Emirates has toggled the second of its twice-daily Brisbane-Dubai flights to its flagship Airbus A380. Previously, the airline ran the superjumbo on one service, and the less favourable Boeing 777 on the other. The difference is that in Business Class, most Emirates Boeing 777s generally run in a seven-across layout. The A380, on the other hand, is 1-2-1: and with a cocktail bar as well.

‘The A380 is a well-loved aircraft by a lot of passengers. It’s got this (following), probably a little bit like the 747. It’s so spacious, and that is attractive in itself. So, from that perspective and a capacity perspective, I’m very happy,’ with the double daily A380 service. ‘There’s definitely more potential for connections into the Middle East and through the Middle East into Europe.’

Next door in Abu Dhabi, ‘Etihad also has a very good opportunity to return to Brisbane,’ says de Graaff. ‘They’ve been a very longstanding partner of Brisbane Airport. I was actually the one who cut the ribbon when Etihad came first to Brisbane Airport a very long time ago. We are discussing opportunities with Etihad.’

Other paths to from Brisbane to Europe

Without further Qatar Airways flights from Brisbane, passengers can also connect to Europe through places like Singapore. ‘The Singapore route is very successful at the moment,’ de Graaff continues. ‘We believe that with Singapore Airlines adding some flights, Qantas adding some flights, we’re making the right steps towards restoring full capacity to Singapore.’

For context, Singapore Airlines recently restored quadruple daily Airbus A350 services between the two cities, which hadn’t operated at that frequency since pre-pandemic days. Qantas is also now running nine return flights per week on the route, up from daily before.

However, Emirates also previously had daily ‘fifth freedom’ flights between Brisbane and Singapore, continuing onwards to Dubai. These ended in March 2020 and will not return.

Some years earlier, Etihad also offered direct Brisbane-Singapore Airbus A330 flights, continuing to its hub in Abu Dhabi. But when Etihad took delivery of the Boeing 787 – capable of flying non-stop between the two cities, sans Singapore stopover – Etihad’s Brisbane-Abu Dhabi flight became non-stop. In 2020, Etihad would withdraw from Brisbane amid Australia’s protracted border closured and restrictions.

Speaking of Singapore Airlines and Qantas though, ‘I’m very keen to see both airlines doing a little bit more, hopefully in 2025.’ Hint hint.

Also read: Thai Airways tips return of Bangkok-Brisbane flights

Imagery courtesy of Brisbane Airport. Chris Chamberlin attended the CAPA Airline Leader Summit in Brisbane as a guest of CAPA Centre for Aviation.

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