The extension is due to open by late 2025, there were announcements by the former CEO on the timelines. The construction is also affecting some previously operational contact stands, these start coming back early 2025. There are also notices about some other temporary closures, such as the contact stands on the north side of the Orchard being out of use until mid-March.

Once the extension opens, that is about a 50% increase in available passenger loading bridges.

Right now the existing gates are not used efficiently. Many flights in the afternoon and early evening banks depart from remote stands even though passenger loading bridges are available. Prior to COVID QR was spreading out their schedules in the two main banks and building up the other two smaller connection banks. As an example, many flights to Europe departed between 0600 and 0700, some arrivals from the same direction (Europe and North America) arrived after these flights departed, this allowed the use of the same stand in the same bank without towing. Once COVID hit and flights were reduced, QR had to compact the schedules to keep connections viable. After the recovery and as flights increased they piled on a lot at the two main connection banks in a shorter window compared to the pre-COVID schedules.

QR could also use aircraft towing more to utilize the gates better, there are cons to increasing the use of aircraft towing such as increased wear and tear (towing is stressful to the landing gear) and the need for more skilled staff (qualified technicians). I think QR should re-asses those cons now, increasing the use of the contact gates and spreading out the schedules will not only improve the passenger experience and reduce mis-connects/delays but also increase duty free revenues.