Second Sydney Airport

For the airport itself, see Western Sydney Airport.

The need for and location of a second airport serving Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was the subject of much debate. The new airport would supplement or replace the city's existing Kingsford Smith Airport. Governments had debated the issue since the 1940s, but for decades had not pursued anything beyond preliminary investigations and precautionary land acquisition. The debate was settled in the 2010s when a site at Badgerys Creek was selected.[1] With an estimated cost of between $6 and $8 billion, construction of the airport began in September 2018 and will be completed by December 2026.[2][3][4][5]

Since the construction of Kingsford Smith, aviation in Sydney has grown significantly. Between 1985 and 2015, total passenger movements through Sydney more than quadrupled from 9.2 million to 39.8 million.[6] In 2015, 21% of all scheduled flights in Australia landed or took off at Kingsford Smith.[6] The airport dealt with 45% of international passengers in 1998.[7]

The Federal government made preliminary investigations and purchased land near Badgerys Creek in the 1980s and early 1990s. In May 2013, the Gillard government released a technical study into the feasibility of Wilton as an airport site.[8] By the time of the 2013 election, the Australian Labor Party had expressed support for the concept of a second airport, but did not support any particular site,[9] whereas the then-Opposition Coalition was split on the issue, with some ministerial support for an airport at Badgerys Creek site while the then-Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had not committed to constructing an airport at all.[10] The second airport was also opposed by the state government of New South Wales, which instead favoured increasing capacity at Kingsford Smith and building a high-speed rail connection between Sydney and Canberra Airport,[11] although doubt had been cast on the viability of the latter option by a study in 2012.[12] After a further study, on 15 April 2014 the Federal government confirmed that the second Sydney airport will be built at Badgerys Creek, as the Western Sydney Airport.[1] In May 2017 the Federal Government announced it would develop the second Sydney Airport, after the Sydney Airport Group declined the Government's offer to develop the second airport,[13] and announced an investment of $5.3 billion in the project over four years in the 2017–18 Budget.[14]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference WT056 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ O'Brien, Kerry (17 August 1999). "Government delays decision on second Sydney airport". 7.30 Report. ABC Television. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  3. ^ Webb & Billing 2005.
  4. ^ James 2012.
  5. ^ "Earth moves: Works begin at Western Sydney Airport". Australian Aviation. 16 February 2019. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  6. ^ a b Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (6 January 2017). "Airport Traffic Data 1985 to 2015". BITRE. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  7. ^ Laird, Philip (2001). Where We Are Now. UNSW Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-86840-411-0. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Albanese, Anthony (10 May 2013). "Release of Wilton technical study" (Press release). Archived from the original on 25 July 2013.
  9. ^ Saulwick, Jacob (12 August 2013). "Both parties have second Sydney airport in the pipeline, advocate says". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  10. ^ Clennell, Andrew (2 January 2013). "Liberals in Sydney airport dogfight". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  11. ^ Budd, Henry (16 February 2013). "Wilton option won't fly for our second airport". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 20 March 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  12. ^ Joint Study on aviation capacity in the Sydney region 2012, p. 23.
  13. ^ Blumer, Clare (3 May 2017). "Badgerys Creek airport to be built by Federal Government as Sydney Airport declines first option". ABC News. ABC. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  14. ^ "Federal budget 2017: Winners and losers". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 9 May 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2017.