Brisbane Airport Corporation's property portfolio has helped the group lift annual after tax profit from $20.97 million to $62.58 million for the year to June 30.

The booming result for the BAC follows its recent overtaking of Melbourne as the second busiest airport in the country.

The latest annual Brisbane Airport Corporation profit result revealed Brisbane carried 1.09 million passengers in 2005-06, overtaking Melbourne in overseas passenger volumes and now ranking second behind Sydney Airport, which carried 2.3 million tourists.

BAC chief executive Koen Rooijmans said the results included $57 million of unrealised gains from the corporation's property portfolio, compared with $13 million the previous year.

He said the result would help underpin the corporation's $2 billion infrastructure program aimed at ensuring Brisbane Airport could meet the growth demands of being the gateway to Australia's fastest growing region.

International passengers increased 2 per cent to 3.9 million during the year while domestic passengers increased 4 per cent to 12.3 million travellers.

Revenue grew 12 per cent to $315.22 million and pre-tax profit rose 89 per cent to $126 million.Qantas and Jetstar now have 50 per cent and 13 per cent respectively of the domestic market in Brisbane with Virgin Blue at 37 per cent.

Internationally, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Air New Zealand and Pacific Blue experienced significant growth in the last few years.

Qantas now accounts for 20 per cent of international passengers through Brisbane, although it is expected to increase with the commencement of Jetstar international services.

Over the next 10 to 12 years, Brisbane will roll out one of the country's largest private infrastructure programs, including major expansions to the international and domestic terminals, a new parallel runway, upgrades to airport roads and new northern road entrance to the airport as part of the Government's Gateway Bridge duplication.

"Over the last three years, international passengers have grown 50 per cent and domestic 40 per cent," Mr Rooijmans said.

"Within five years we expect to be carrying more than 20 million passengers a year."

In 1997, 4,000 people worked on the airport and this has now grown to around 10,000 with more than 40,000 people expected to be working there in 20 years' time - the size of a regional town.

The BAC chief said the growth and increased security measures over the last few years were placing a strain on infrastructure at the airport, and to meet the growth challenge the group needed to reinvest to ensure infrastructure kept pace with capacity demand.

He said within the next couple of years the airport will see the construction of a hotel, second office, supermarket, pub, liquor barn, speciality shops, childcare centres and a golf course.

"All this, in addition to new airfreight, aircraft maintenance and education facilities," Mr Rooijmans said.

BAC recently completed a major refinancing and now has $1.1 billion of 10 year AAA credit wrapped bonds and $300 million of unused bank facilities. (Australian dollar is the currency used in this article)

Photograph: Brisbane Airport Corporation chief executive Koen Rooijmans. Photographer: Heather Faulkner