Commercial Aviation Update

A 1929 Parliamentary Works Committee (yes, they had one even then) decided to do nothing about the Bankstown site at that time, although it was considered suitable for development.

In 1940, the RAAF set up the present airport at Bankstown for its wartime needs. Bankstown also hosted the Fleet Air Arm and the US Air Corps. Much the same thing happened at Schofields, Haxton Park, Richmond and Camden airports, all 40km to 60km by air from the centre of Sydney.

By 1987, Duffy’s Forest, in Sydney’s north, and Towra Point, in the south, had been rejected as possible new airport sites while Badgery’s Creek, just beyond Hoxton Park to the west, had been nominated as a future major airport site. But no one knows when it will appear. Few would suggest less than a 20 years lead time for such a complex project.

No Heliport

And a heliport near the central business district has been rejected several times by the State Government. Even Sydney KSA has no modern heliport which means nighttime choppers must share space with everything from Boeings to commuters.

Let’s look at the position in our Bicentennial year, 1988.

The RAAF has exclusive use of Richmond. It has plenty of capacity left but civil aircraft are banned.

The nearby Schofields is restricted to weekend flying club use to avoid interfering with Navy ground schools. And Mr Keating now has Schofields on his list of fire sale items to help balance the national budget.

Sydney KSA is already officially over its capacity limit and congestion gets worse every day (refer p13 Nov 87 AA). It badly needs another runway but no one will make a decision to build it.

Hoxton Park is full with an estimated 100,000 movements each year. The State Government and the local Council would rather turn it into housing sites and parks.

Potential Reduced

Bankstown’s potential capacity of 450,000 movements will be reached before long. The present rate is above 400,000 and growing at around 20% in recent months. Introduction of commuter flights, objections from nearby residents or projected runway usage restrictions by Air Traffic Control could all sharply reduce its claimed potential.

Camden alone has room for more flights but it, too, is growing fast with more than 100,000 movements despite being relatively remote for most Sydney residents. Local gliding clubs fear banishment to the country if progress continues.

As a rule, recreation and business activity of this order would prompt action from industry and Governments to better cater for popular demand. Melbourne’s Tullamarine quickly replaced the outgrown Essendon airport while a new Jetport at Geelong is reportedly being sponsored by East-West Airlines (refer Airline Affairs). Essendon and Moorabbin, together with outlying smaller airports, are looking after commuter and general aviation growth.

Brisbane had a new airport thrust upon it. The new facility went up several years before the airlines said it was economically justified. Adelaide, Hobart and Perth have all seen big improvements to movement areas and terminals. All these capitals boast satellite general aviation airports with spare capacity.

Local initiatives and the tourism market have sparked rapid development at Cairns while the Commonwealth agreed Townsville could not be left out and rebuilt that airport, too. Even Darwin’s excellent movement areas will be complemented by an overdue new terminal in a reasonable time, according to the Minister. Just down the highway, Katherine’s 747 standard runway will accommodate the RAAF’s new F-18 aircraft and a new terminal is on the way, too. And all over the country medium jet runways and terminals have popped up wherever enough passengers could be found and local authorities took on the responsibility for running the airport.

But what is happening at Sydney? – At Mascot, more taxiways and expanded terminals, certainly. But runways, no. At Bankstown, nothing. Camden and Haxton Park, nothing. Schofields, less than nothing. Richmond, not available.

GA Study

As long ago as 1967 an industry-department committee recommended more runways for Mascot. More recently, the Major Airport Needs of Sydney study (MANS) recommended improvements at Bankstown as well as better facilities at Mascot and the proposed Second Sydney Airport. In 1986, a Government study of General Aviation in the Sydney region recommended improvements to Bankstown and Schofields to handle current and future demand.

So far (the elusive Badgery’s Creek excepted), various Governments have made only one firm decision. The coalition said in 1982 it would build another runway at Mascot. Unfortunately, it was removed from office before it could bring it about.

Of Sydney’s six airports, one is full, one is reserved for the military, one is subject to river flooding and the other three are under threat as to their very existence or level of operation. There is no downtown heliport. There are no specific plans for the future. Flight delays, and therefore ticket prices, increase regularly. And demand is rising every day.

Despite this grim picture, State and Federal politicians continue to tell us that the system is handling our needs. Despite the fact that another runway at Mascot will help the noise problem (by putting more flights out over Botany Bay) the public are being told that Badgery’s Creek, still a Dreamtime project, will fix all the problems.

The answer is certainly not a study, although our new Federal Airports Corporation feels it must go down that track. We have rooms full of studies already. Expensive ones, too.

Action Needed

The real answer is action. Immediate action by a small group of State, Federal and industry experts to build the facilities we need for one of the most important cities in the world. Mascot can be improved quickly. Bankstown can be improved. Schofields can be developed as a substantial ‘new’ facility for general aviation in the northern half of the clty. Camden, handy to the fastest growing population in the metropolitan area, can be redeveloped to handle increased activity but with an environmentally more suitable runway alignment.

Failure to take steps now will mean increasing chaos in the air as well as higher prices for users. Longer queues to land an aircraft mean holding at more and more distant points, waiting to enter the terminal area. It will mean more holding on the ground at your origin airport (Canberra airline passengers experience this now). It will mean more diversions. It will mean Sydney and the State of NSW will lose out to competing destinations and Australia will ultimately lose out to other countries.

Development costs money, of course, but so does flying around in circles going nowhere.