Today's Courier Mail
BRISBANE has eclipsed Melbourne as the second busiest major airport in Australia with the growth blamed for increasing flight delays. Figures released by Air Services Australia show that flights in and out of Brisbane jumped by more than 15,000 to 219,920 during 2012-2013.
Melbourne had 218,974 flights, while Sydney airport retained the number one spot with 327,520 flights taking off and landing.
Brisbane Airport Corporation head of corporate relations Rachel Crowley, said the findings came as a surprise and explained the increasing airport congestion.
The Courier-Mail's
#bnelateagain campaign has highlighted ongoing frustrations over existing chronic flight delays and the urgent need for the additional runway.
"There's a significant passenger number difference, so for us to pass them in aircraft movements is extraordinary," Ms Crowley said.
"However, that's the reason for the congestion.
"The delays at the Brisbane airport during the peaks are largely due to unprecedented growth in traffic and that's what has made us the second busiest for airport movements in the country."
Data from the Federal Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics shows almost 4000 flights through Brisbane were at least 15 minutes late in July.
About a quarter of all departures were late with 37 per cent of arriving flights running behind during the same month.
Ms Crowley said increased flights are generally a response to passenger demand but that was not the case this time.
She said the growth of the resources industry in Queensland had played the biggest part in the increased number of flights in and out of Brisbane.
"There have been increases across the board but the sort of increase we have seen has largely been driven by intrastate flights, and that can be almost entirely sheeted home to the resources industry and the fly in-fly out workers," she said.
The statistics relate to aircraft movement - or number of takeoff and landings - not the number of passengers.
The figures for the capital city airports do not include traffic in and out of other smaller airports in the states.
This breaks down to about 300 extra flights per week.
International flights were on the decline, even though Hawaiian Airlines started operating out of Brisbane in December and Philippines Airline launched in June this year.
Sydney continues to be the most popular domestic route while Auckland was the busiest international route.