Airports, Airlines and the Art of Meeting in the Middle: Rethinking Partnerships for Australia’s Next Era of Travel 

At the Australian Airport’s Association National Conference this year, the conversation between Queensland Airports Limited (QAL) CEO, Amelia Evans and Jetstar CEO, Stephanie Tully offered a compelling window into the future of airport – airline collaboration in Australia.

What made the discussion so interesting was not the differences. Rather, it was the visible recognition that somewhere between airport ambition and airline pragmatism sits an opportunity: a shared middle ground where efficiency, affordability, and passenger experience can coexist, even thrive, when approached with transparency and a willingness to co-design the journey. 

Capacity, Cost and the Eternal Push-Pull

Every airport wants more capacity. Every airline, especially a low-cost carrier, wants fewer overheads. Airports look at infrastructure as the backbone of operational stability: terminals that flow, checkpoints that move, and baggage system reliability. Airlines like Jetstar view the same infrastructure through a different lens: a cost centre that enables them to bring passengers to a destination at the lowest possible fare. Neither perspective is wrong. Both are commercially rational. 

Jetstar acknowledged that growth is central to keeping fares low. New aircraft such as the A321neo fleet are increasing operational efficiency and route flexibility, enabling more Australians to travel – even as household budgets continue to tighten.  But to keep fares accessible, Jetstar needs cost-efficient partners. Airports, meanwhile, need sustainable investment models that support long-term infrastructure horizons. 

The sweet spot? Incremental, intelligent, data-driven investment – the kind of planning armed with shared insights and aligned motivations.

What Do Passengers Really Value? The Data Dilemma  

One point made by the CEO of Queensland Airports landed with particular weight: 

Are we designing experiences around what passengers want, or around what we assume they want?

This is especially relevant for low-cost carrier passengers. Do they crave ‘premium light’ airport experiences? Are they comfortable with streamlined, highly efficient but minimalistic environments? Or, perhaps more provocatively, is it outdated to assume that a lower ticket price automatically equals lower expectations? 

Travel is aspirational. Whether someone has paid $89 or $489 for their seat, the emotional arc of the journey does not change. People still want ease and clarity, without feeling they’ve been placed in the budget lane. 

Data is required to answer this properly. Data provides clarity on behaviour, tolerance levels, and what people truly value. But data alone cannot overshadow the human voice: the lived experience of passengers whose needs, frustrations, and expectations ultimately define success.

Partnerships That Drive Progress  

Partnership in aviation cannot be rhetorical. It must be structural.

Airlines request earlier engagement in airport design and planning, particularly in understanding the impacts of staged construction, technology upgrades, and long-term terminal strategies. Airports want clarity around airline network planning, passenger demand, and the cost-benefit calculus that underpins every route.

Both want efficiency. Both want growth. Both want satisfied passengers. 

However, both are also managing competing pressures: cost of living debates, operational constraints, decarbonisation initiatives, border modernisation, and increasing expectations around reliability and transparency.

It led to me thinking where providers Daifuku can play a uniquely valuable role—far beyond traditional system delivery. Our starting point is always the root cause of the challenge. What is driving congestion? What is slowing throughput? What is inhibiting commercial performance or operational stability? Interrogating the problem before proposing the solution. 

With visibility across airports globally, we bring a perspective that blends macro trends with micro-operational insight. Building solutions grounded in data and customer behaviour, rather than assumptions – enabling airports and airlines to realise commercial impact, not merely operational adjustments. 

Our approach is to design outcomes that are aligned with the needs of customers, partners, and passengers – solutions that are scalable, interoperable, and sized to the capital and infrastructure scope available. 

In practice, this means tackling high-priority items first: the interventions that deliver the greatest impact, the fastest return on investment, and the clearest improvement in the passenger journey. Whether that is baggage automation, self-service expansion, simulation and digital twin modelling, or optimised flow design, the objective remains the same – enable all parties to progress their goals without compromising commercial realities. 

When airports and airlines have this level of clarity early – long before blueprints harden into construction – the conversation shifts from compromise to co-design. 

Or, put more simply: many hands may make lighter work, but many informed perspectives make far better plans. 

The Future: Incremental Innovation and Accessible Travel

Travel behaviours in Australia continue to defy economic gravity. People are prioritising travel over other discretionary spend, and low-cost carriers are enabling that choice. Jetstar’s expanding route network and upcoming aircraft additions speak to a demand curve that remains undeniably strong. But sustaining this growth requires an ecosystem that is:

• Efficient – squeezing every ounce of productivity from infrastructure 

• Data-led – validating investment decisions and passenger expectations 

• Interoperable – leveraging technology such as biometrics, automation, and passport-less processing 

• Collaborative – sharing insights early and shaping decisions jointly 

• Future-ready – with staged, scalable, financially development

Fireside discussion at this year’s AAA event with Queensland Airports Limited (QAL) CEO, Amelia Evans and Jetstar CEO, Stephanie Tully.

It All Comes Back to People 

Amid discussions of capacity modelling, fleet utilisation and infrastructure horizons, there was a quiet but important theme: aviation is, at its core, a people industry. 

Passengers who want simplicity. 

Communities who rely on connectivity.

Innovation will move us forward. Data will guide decisions. But relationships, partnership and communication will determine whether the industry can meet its shared goal: keeping travel accessible, enjoyable and sustainable for all.

At Daifuku, we remain deeply invested in helping airports and airlines find that middle ground, where operational excellence meets commercial reality, and where technology quietly enables the kind of journeys passengers remember for all the right reasons. 

Listening to these two exceptional leaders speak on the subject, it gives me confidence of how the future of aviation will be shaped, communities supported and inclusive travel enabled.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers. But I’m always eager to keep asking the questions – because somewhere between spreadsheets and masterplans lies a future worth shaping together. 

About Kirsty Tull