Airport Development Boom Analysed

The leading development at Sydney airport is the extension to the International Terminal. At an estimated cost of $214m, Stage 1 of the extension will be funded by the FAC with completion scheduled for 1992. It will add eight new gates while the extension has a floor area of 48,000 square metres, allowing greatly expanded arrival and departure halls.

A later plan for the International Terminal calls for the eventual provision of 27 gates, all connected to the terminal by aerobridges. Plans are for the developments to keep pace with demand to avoid the overcrowding experienced over the last few years. Behind the terminal, the FAC is planning intensive development of the car park. Where the present car park is merely open ground covered in bitumen, the master plan provides for construction of two hotels, one of which will incorporate an office block, Car parking for both the public and airport employees will be multi-storey. According to the Airport’s Commercial Manager, Mr John Austin, there are several interested parties discussing these developments.

Qantas is also expected to extend its international cargo building again. It will be the second extension in the few scant years since the original facility was completed. Ansett and Australian airlines international cargo facilities will also be expanded in the near future as air cargo tonnage in and out of Australia is running at record levels. Full realisation of all these plans means there will be little further scope for development. in this quarter of the airport.

On the domestic side, the heart of the original 1919 Mascot Aerodrome, both Australian and Ansett are to extend their terminals. Under agreements made with the Federal Government, the airlines must provide two gates each for the use of any new entrants into the domestic airline market following domestic deregulation in 1990.

Qantas, which has its jet base in this sector, is presently rebuilding a hangar at a cost of $23m to accommodate two Boeing 747s. Other projects, like the $12. 5m simulator building, will mean the national carrier will not be able to undertake any new major works without demolition.

The airline has amassed extensive property holdings adjoining its maintenance base. Some development has already taken place, notably the flight kitchen. The rest of the 12 hectare site will be used for maintenance of aircraft components, freeing valuable airport land for other. purposes.

Qantas is also to lease some 15,000sq metres of office space in the CAI project in the same area. A warehouse is also being taken in this development A hotel, one of about five either proposed or commenced in the suburbs adjoining Sydney airport, makes the $300m CAI project the most diverse of those taking place in the vicinity.

Construction work by Qantas is expected to be almost continuous over the next decade. The airline says it will be erecting a new hangar that will dwarf any of those presently on the airport while several hundred million dollars will be invested in new buildings.

Mr Austin says a retail, office and hotel complex is under discussion for the area east of the domestic airline car parks. “The retail area will be for airline passengers and airport based employees. We are not proposing a development which would compete with shopping centres around the airport. ”

It is also possible another domestic terminal will be constructed near the current general aviation apron. Go ahead will depend on the success of the new airlines expected after the Two Airline Agreement expires in October, 1990.

How much of the redevelopment of Sydney Airport is funded by the FAC depends, Mr Austin says, on the financial evaluation of the projects: “We could go it alone, in a joint venture or hand it over to developers. ” Long term, the area south of the cross runway could be opened up. At the Brighton end, the need for controllers to see the runway will result in strict height limitations. Back towards Mascot, the area is limited by the need to protect historic convict era ponds and a pumping house. The lack of services to this site makes developments a very expensive option.

Sydney Airport, at only 635 hectares, is small by international standards and particularly so compared with Melbourne’s 2,130 hectares. Mr Austin believes all future building developments at Sydney will need to take advantage of maximum building heights.

The FAC’s other three Sydney airports are also experiencing very high development demands. At Bankstown, for example, over $15m worth of projects have been approved.

These, however, are not FAC funded and comprise 20 hangars, three office blocks, a revitalised fuel dump, two warehouses and other buildings. The Civil Aviation Authority is investing $1. 3m in a new office complex while Hawker de Havilland, the airport’s largest tenant, is spending over $1m on a high-tech machine shop.

Airport Manager Howard Knox says hangar sites are now scarce, though land is still available for commercial development. An area has been set aside for a restaurant and another for a motel.

Two new hangars have also been approved for tiny Hoxton Park Aerodrome near Liverpool. One is an enormous 80m by 20m structure for an aircraft manufacturer. Distant Camden Airport is meanwhile getting three new hangars and a flying school for the Air Training Corps. An area has also been set aside for individual T hangars for gliders. The restful semirural atmosphere of Camden may lead to big things for the airport.

Despite protestations about noise, airports have a beneficial influence on adjoining• communities. The area of Mascot abutting the airport has been partially rezoned to allow for only airport related activities. Previously noxious industries have moved and ugly, dilapidated factories have been demolished. In their place have risen modern, aesthetically pleasing warehouses surrounded by landscaped gardens. The presence of the airport has actually revitalised the adjoining district. Over 16,000 people are directly employed at the airport, with an even greater number dependent on its existence and working within a few kilometres:

Airports are not rateable but the FAC makes ex gratia payments to councils equal to the rates which would have been levied . on commercial properties within the airport. This adds up to $900,000 in the case of Sydney Airport, most of which goes to Botany Council. Bankstown City Council recognises this and is strongly supportive of the airport. With 2,500 people working there, it plays a vital part in the life of the community. But beyond the money, large areas at Condell Park used for playing fields and public recreation are leased by the FAC to the Council at a nominal rental.

The airlines are predicting sustained high levels of growth in air transport. It is inevitable that, even with a third runway, Sydney Airport will one day reach saturation point, becoming physically unable to handle the demand placed upon it. By this time Sydney should hopefully have another airport able to handle the larger jets. And the cycle of development will commence once again.

Sometime, towards the middle of the 21st Century, it is probable there will be a need to seek a site for a third Sydney airport?