Brisbane Airport sees record numbers

Brisbane Airport has reported record passenger numbers for 2011 despite a tough year for the airline industry.

Brisbane Airport says a record 20.4 million passengers travelled through its terminals in 2011, a 3.4 per cent increase over 2010, which the airport hailed as remarkable given the year’s multiple disruptions to air travel.

The airport said the growth was set to continue into early 2012, with airlines adding more than 330,000 domestic and 54,000 international seats into and out of the Queensland capital during the holiday period. The airport said those numbers were an increase of 10 per cent and 5 per cent respectively over last year.

For December, the airport reported a 3.2 per cent increase in domestic passengers and a 3.5 per cent bump in international passengers over December 2010.

“This growth is a remarkable result given the number of challenges the industry has faced this year,” Brisbane Airport Corporation CEO Julieanne Alroe said in a statement. “It demonstrates the importance of air travel in this day and age and the resilience of the industry as a whole to withstand and bounce back from unexpected events.”