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Brisbane Airport is planning to rename its two existing terminals as it prepares to construct a third.
In the airport’s preliminary draft 2026 master plan, it details the move to rename the international terminal as T1 and domestic terminal as T2, with the new terminal – located between the two parallel runways – to be dubbed T3.
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This would bring Brisbane Airport in line with Australia’s other three major gateways in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, all of which number their terminals.
T3, billed as a “modular terminal” which can handle both international and domestic flights, is expected to have its initial phase complete in the early to mid-2030s, with further construction to be carried out in stages.
“Planning studies for Brisbane Airport indicate that when domestic passenger numbers reach 25 million passengers per annum (anticipated around 2032), additional terminal floor area will be required for domestic operations and processing facilities,” the plan read.
“It is also anticipated that additional international terminal capacity will be required when the existing Terminal 1 reaches 10–12 million passengers (anticipated around 2030–34).
“A new modular terminal allows for passenger processing and handling spaces that can be progressively developed in a manner that is able to adapt to future seamless passenger processes and co-location of domestic and international operations.”
The master plan has been slammed by the Brisbane Flight Path Community Alliance (BFPCA), a long-time critic of the airport, which points to figures showing that Brisbane could see 382,000 aircraft movements annually, plus 195,000 from Archerfield, by 2046.
BFPCA chairperson Marcus Foth labelled the plan “a blueprint for unchecked growth, with no regard for the airport’s host communities who already bear the brunt of the noise and pollution”.
“Almost 600,000 flights a year or 1,600 a day in the Brisbane Basin is not a sustainable future. It is a recipe for health impacts, sleepless nights, and declining liveability,” he said.
“BAC’s so-called sustainability plan is a sham when one of its anchor tenants is still operating 1970s aircraft on toxic lead-based avgas fuel.
“The master plan lays out a vision of wild aviation growth, worsening noise and pollution, heavier night-time disruption, and greater road congestion – all while glossing over negative impacts and limiting genuine community consultation.”
Brisbane Airport’s $5 billion Future BNE transformation program includes renovations to its domestic and international terminals, continued planning for a new Terminal 3 precinct, aircraft parking and apron expansions, runway resurfacing, and a new aeromedical facility so medical repatriation and emergency services can be centralised at the airport.
