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 is referring to the current bilateral air traffic agreements between Australia and the State of Qatar, which effectively prevent the airline’s growth in the Sunshine State.

Under the current agreement, Qatar-based carriers are allowed to operate up to 28 direct return flights per week through Australia’s four busiest airports. Qatar Airways, the national airline of Qatar, makes full use of these rights. It also has permission for an additional service that begins and ends in another Australian city, but passes through one of these key airports. It uses it to operate an additional daily Doha-Melbourne-Adelaide flight, on which passengers can travel only between Melbourne and Doha.

But in total, and even with five non-stop connections between major cities and Qatar, the airline is in a waiting situation. Current traffic rights prevent further growth from Australia’s busiest airports. Each flight the airline operates to a city means an additional departure that it cannot make from another city. For example, under the cap, every flight to Perth or Brisbane is a sacrifice by offering more flights from Sydney or Melbourne.

It has been widely reported that the Australian government has refused a recent request to increase traffic rights granted to Qatari carriers. At the same time, grant significant traffic rights to airlines based in Türkiye, benefiting Qatar Airways’ rival Turkish Airlines. Australia also maintains higher traffic caps for UAE-based airlines than Qatar, which benefits both Emirates and Etihad Airways.

I sit down with de Graaff at the recent CAPA Airline Executive Summit in Brisbane to discuss further flights to Doha and beyond.

Brisbane ready to welcome more flights to Qatar

Clearly, it will come as no surprise if the CEO of Brisbane Airport is in favor of more flights from Brisbane Airport. “That’s my main interest,” de Graaff readily admits. “We would be very interested in seeing Qatar operate (more flights) from Brisbane.”

“I think we deserve it. We’ve been missing that second flight from Qatar for a very long time. Qatar has been instrumental during the pandemic in keeping Brisbane connected to the rest of the world when some airlines were unable to operate. Qatar actually started (in Brisbane during the pandemic) and has done a wonderful job providing passenger repatriation services as well as bringing the necessary pharmaceuticals to Brisbane.

“I think they deserve it, and I think we deserve it. For Qatar, “one per day is not enough, especially given the partnership with Virgin Australia”. It would be fantastic to see a daily double. It is also ambition; Qatar’s wish to do so. But currently, bilateral agreements do not allow this.

As for this partnership with Virgin Australia, the two carriers have made a rather bold proposal to the Australian government. In the same way that Qantas uses Finnair aircraft on some of its flights to Asia, Virgin Australia has proposed to do the same between Australia and Doha aboard Qatar Airways planes. Indeed, Virgin Australia would be responsible for “marketing”, while Qatar Airways would be responsible for “operation” (flight).

“Discussions about this are continuing,” says de Graaff, of additional flights between Australia and Qatar. I ask whether de Graaff would like to see an increase in bilateral caps across the board, or whether simply allowing an extra flight to Brisbane would be enough.

“If that were to be the only change to the bilateral caps,” speaking of an additional daily flight to Brisbane, “I would be perfectly happy with that.” This is our main interest.

Even more demand from Brisbane to the entire Middle East

This year, Emirates switched the second of its twice-daily Brisbane-Dubai flights to its flagship Airbus A380. Previously, the airline operated the superjumbo on one service and the less advantageous Boeing 777 on the other. The difference is that in Business Class, most Emirates Boeing 777s generally operate in a seven-section layout. THE The A380, on the other hand, is 1-2-1: and with a cocktail bar Also.

“The A380 is an aircraft very popular with many passengers. It has this (below), probably much like the 747. It’s so spacious, and that’s attractive in itself. So from that perspective and from a capacity perspective, I’m very happy with the A380’s twice-daily service. “There is certainly more potential for connections to the Middle East and, via the Middle East, to Europe.”

Next door, in Abu Dhabi, “Etihad also has a very good opportunity to return to Brisbane,” explains de Graaff. “They have been a very long-standing partner of Brisbane Airport. In fact, I was the one who cut the ribbon when Etihad first arrived at Brisbane Airport, a long time ago. We are discussing opportunities with Etihad.

Other routes from Brisbane to Europe

With no further Qatar Airways flights departing from Brisbane, passengers can also connect to Europe via places like Singapore. “The Singapore route is currently very successful,” de Graaff continues. “We believe that with the addition of a few flights by Singapore Airlines and Qantas, we are taking the right steps to restore full capacity to Singapore.”

To recall, Singapore Airlines recently reinstated quadruple daily Airbus A350 services between the two cities, which had not operated at this frequency since pre-pandemic. Qantas also now offers nine return flights per week on this route, up from daily.

However, Emirates previously offered daily “fifth freedom” flights between Brisbane and Singapore, continuing on to Dubai. These ended in March 2020 and will not return.

A few years earlier, Etihad also offered direct Brisbane-Singapore flights by Airbus A330, continuing to its Abu Dhabi hub. But when Etihad took delivery of the Boeing 787 – capable of flying non-stop between the two cities, with no stopover in Singapore – Etihad’s Brisbane-Abu Dhabi flight became non-stop. In 2020, Etihad would withdraw from Brisbane amid the prolonged Australian border closure and restrictions.

Speaking of Singapore Airlines and Qantas, “I’m very excited to see both airlines do a bit more, hopefully in 2025.” Hint hint.

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

Images provided by Brisbane Airport. Chris Chamberlin attended the CAPA Airline Leader Summit in Brisbane as a guest of CAPA Center for Aviation.