Bradfield Oration: Minister vows to tackle Sydney Airport flight restrictions
TOURISM Minister Adam Marshall’s vow to tackle flight restrictions at Sydney Airport has been welcomed as an opportunity to end decades of “sabotage” to tourism and business.
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TOURISM Minister Adam Marshall’s vow to tackle flight restrictions at Sydney Airport has been welcomed as an opportunity to end decades of “sabotage” to tourism and business.
Mr Marshall exclusively told The Daily Telegraph he wanted to end “ridiculous” rules that limit the number of planes that can fly in and out of Sydney to just 80 an hour.
Patricia Forsyth, Sydney Business Chamber executive director, said: “Sydney Airport is one of NSW’s most significant pieces of infrastructure and it’s completely tied up by red tape”.
“When you have a storm or high winds the capacity of the airport to recover is hampered by stupid restrictions.”
She said the airport was limited to a cap of just 80 flights an hour and within that a further restriction of just 20 flights every 15 minutes.
“So if you need to catch up, particularly in the peak times, you cannot, and that has a knock-on effect for business and tourism.
“It has nothing to do with safety,” she said. “It dates back to the construction of the third runway in the 1990s, when the politicians were locked in a race to the bottom.”
Mr Marshall said: “The fact is, the way the Sydney Airport is currently regulated significantly inhibits our ability, and will increasingly in the future inhibit our ability, to grow the tourism sector.”
Tourism and Transport Forum CEO Margy Osmond said: “The continued cap on aircraft movements at Sydney Airport is fast becoming a cap on international visitor arrivals at Australia’s largest gateway.”
She said the rules are “sabotaging decades of global campaigns to attract tourists” and without an urgent review would “squander the tourism gains we have worked so hard to achieve”.
Ms Osmond said a change to the flight movement cap was a “commonsense reform” that would not impact on the overnight curfew that bans most aircraft operations overnight.
“It’s time for action on the crippling constraints which limit aircraft movements during the airport’s operating hours, impacting the national aviation network and the national economy,” she said.
“This is no longer a Sydney issue, it is a national issue as delays at Sydney Airport flow through to the national network.” A spokeswoman for Sydney Airport said: “Developments in aviation technology mean that there are now better ways to deliver improved noise outcomes, reduce emissions and improve the efficiency of the airport.
“We support collaborating with airlines, government and the local community to make Sydney Airport work better.”