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Flying high - airport issues around Australia

In the 1999 edition of Environmental Issues a point was made concerning the Sydney Airport being the premier Australian domestic and international airport. 'More than twenty-one million passengers pass through this airport each year...is associated with 40% of Australia's aircraft movements and 65% of international passenger arrivals'. (See page 1) The above statement was based on the available figures at the time of writing. Recently released figures indicate that the situation for Sydney has changed. (See Table 1 below.) This table concentrates on the statistics for the international passenger traffic through Australia's fourteen international airports. Table 1 shows that Sydney still provides a gateway to nearly 50% of Australia's international passenger traffic which is nearly three times that of the next most important airport, Melbourne. One of the surprising statistics in the table is that for the city of Adelaide (approximately one million people)- it hardly rates with less than 2% of international passenger arrivals. Only five international airlines fly to Adelaide. This is not because of restrictions placed on the number of international airlines by either the state or federal governments, (many more airlines have access rights) but because most overseas carriers have no interest in serving the South Australian capital. So few international tourists have a prime interest in visiting that state.

'The location of Sydney airport so close to the city centre and the airport support facilities and people is its major advantage. However, this central location gives rise to its major disadvantage in that it cannot function without aircraft flying over adjacent densely settled suburbs...' (See Environmental Issues Chapter 1)

To overcome the dilemma of a rapidly expanding demand for access by aircraft to the Sydney Airport the Federal Government is considering three main options:

Option 1 (the most likely) - build a new airport on a green fields site at Badgerys Creek, 47km west of Sydney [in June 1999 a final Environmental Impact Study (EIS) found that this site was still the most feasible for building a second Sydney Airport. See The Australian, 'Airport Decision:A 53-year Wait:Badgerys Creek clear for take-off', 1/7/99, page 2]

Option 2 Build a new airport or expand an existing airport to take aircraft from regional NSW and elsewhere - sites such as Canberra, Goulburn, Newcastle, Lithgow and Koorangang Island in the Hunter River have been suggested. In August 1999 Sydney Airport officials were promoting the advantages of transferring small aircraft to Bankstown Airport in the city's west, claiming such a move would add 14 years of capacity to the existing Sydney Airport. Such a decision would present an enormous political dilemma for the Federal Coalition Government because the National Party members of the Coalition would not accept that people from regional NSW should not be penalised by having to travel further to reach the city than is currently the case.

Option 3 Expand the existing airport.

Option 4 (Never seriously considered by the Federal Government) - build an offshore airport adjacent to the Sydney Metropolitan area (See Environmental Issues pages 10-11)

In 1999 it was estimated that the Sydney Airport would reach its capacity within 5 to 7 years.

Similar issues to those in Sydney (ie how to cope with the growing air traffic as indicated by the growth in overseas arrivals in Table 1) relate to other airports in Australia.

'Because capital city airports are attractive transport nodes businesses and industries build nearby and are soon followed by residential settlements. This can create environmental issues arising from conflicting activities. This is also true of regional (and island ) airports, although on a different scale' (Environmental Issues, page 13)

Airport issues around the world

Similar issues to those in Sydney and other Australian airports relate to the situation in other countries.

In recent years new airports or extensions to existing airports have been built in several South-East Asian and East Asian countries.(See Table 2)

Some of these airports are very important links in the economies of these countries and provide work opportunities for tens of thousands of their citizens. Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok airport, opened in July 1999, cost $30billion and was the world's biggest construction project. It includes the world's largest passenger terminal building, 1.2km long and covering 550,000sq m. The Tsing Ma bridge connecting the airport with Lantau Island, extends 1.4km and is the world's longest rail/road suspension bridge. South Korea is building the world's largest offshore airport, Inchon International Airport which is due to open in January, 2001. The airport will cost $9billion to build and because it is offshore it will operate without noise concerns 24 hours a day - there are no nearby residential areas. Initially it will handle 170,000 aircraft movements a year and process 27 million passengers through its main terminal. It is intended that four runways will be operating by 2020 (2 runways are being built to start with) which will mean the capacity will rise to 530,000 movements, 100million passengers and 7 million tonnes of cargo a year.

Investigate more about this issue on the following web sites:

• Australian EIA Network - What's New

This site offers a useful way of linking into 'The Second Sydney Airport - Badgerys Creek Proposal - Environmental Impact Statement - Auditor's Report' which was released in August 1999. The audit was conducted by SMEC Australia Pty Ltd.

• No Aircraft Noise

This site is maintained by an interest group. It is a good example of people with a common cause working to influence opinion about an issue.

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