Airtrain valuation revealed, prompting push for compulsory buyback

The Queensland government could acquire Brisbane’s privately operated Airtrain for $45 million, the state’s lone Greens MP says, based on analysis drawing on the asset’s reported financial value.

The proposal centres on financial statements from USS Axle, a subsidiary of UK-based pension fund Universities Superannuation Scheme that acquired the Airtrain in 2013.

The statements, lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, suggest the value of the Airtrain concession has been steadily declining by about $5 million annually and may have already fallen to about $45 million.

Maiwar MP Michael Berkman said that created an opportunity for the state to negotiate a relatively low-cost buyback. But, should negotiations prove fruitless, Berkman said the government should force the issue with drastic intervention.

“If that means legislating to extinguish the contract, the government can and should do it,” he said.

“If we paid the owners a fair price of $45 million, which is what their own financial reports say it’s worth, it would be the cheapest and quickest public transport project in Queensland’s history.”

A spokesman for Queensland Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said the government was committed to the current arrangement.

Under that arrangement, Airtrain has exclusive rights under a 35-year contract with the state government that started in 2001. At the end of the contract in 2036, the asset would be returned to the state.

The agreement prohibits any other form of airport public transport. It also allows higher fares – a one-way trip from Central to the airport on Airtrain currently costs $22.30 – instead of the 50¢ fares charged elsewhere on the rail network.

Critics have long argued the deal limited fare integration and discouraged airport passengers from using public transport.

According to the figures submitted to ASIC, Airtrain’s value declined from a little more than $100 million in 2013-14 to about $50 million in 2024-25, reflecting annual amortisation over the life of the contract.

Based on that pattern, the valuation could drop to about $45 million in 2026.

Berkman said that was a reasonable benchmark for any buyback negotiations, but this masthead understands Airtrain has previously demanded several times that amount to exit the contract early, with the end of the concession period still almost a decade away.

But Airtrain chief executive Chris Basche said the declining asset value did not tell the whole story.

“The statutory balance sheet is backward-looking, based on historical cost amortised under applicable