New runway approved

Australia's Government has approved construction of a second runway at Brisbane International Airport despite environmental concerns. Almost 200 submissions were received during the course of the public enquiry, the majority of which expressed concern over noise.

Defending his decision to approve the AU$ 1 billion (US$ 834 million) scheme, Transport Minister Mark Vaile said construction, which is expected to take eight years, would create 2700 jobs. Mr Vaile also said the second runway would direct most of its traffic over Morton Bay, ultimately alleviating any aircraft noise by spreading traffic across two parallel runways working in both directions.

Brisbane Airport is currently used by almost 17 million passengers per year. By 2015 that number is expected to have risen to 23.5 million.