Western Sydney Airport for ‘the folks’ of western Sydney

A major aviation conference has been told the Western Sydney Airport could succeed without a rail link.

A major aviation conference has been told Western Sydney Airport could succeed without a rail link because most of the passengers would come from the immediate catchment area and “not Circular Quay”.

A panel of experts at the Centre for Aviation annual conference in Sydney examined issues facing the airport, planned for 2025.

Chief executive of Western Sydney Airport, Graham Millett, said accessibility would be a key issue for planners, to ensure the airport functioned as part of the community.

“This will be a facility for the folks of western Sydney, and if you think about the passengers that will fly, the reality is that once the airport is built there’ll be two million people in the catchment area,” Mr Millett said. “Over time we will see a greater percentage coming from other parts of Sydney, subject to the right infrastructure being available.”

Board of Airline Representatives of Australia executive director Barry Abrams said members were excited about the new airport, with 80 per cent of some flights made up of passengers from western Sydney.

“There’ll be a real opportunity to take a bit of market share from Kingsford Smith,” he said. “Through time, if airlines want to get services into a market called Sydney, the obvious place they’ll need to go is western Sydney.”

Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue chairman Christopher Brown said the area was “the only urban centre of 2.2 million people on earth that didn’t have an ­airport”.

“When the airport is built in eight to 10 years, there’ll be 3 million living in the catchment area,” Mr Brown said. “They won’t be travelling from Circular Quay.”

Mr Abrams said there would be “obvious advantages to a rail line” but alternatives were available. “You can look for other good options that will also help matters like having a really good coach service,” he said.

“You’re not talking about a bus, but a coach timed for when passengers arrive to get them to multiple destinations.”

Accessibility was an issue for Sydney Airport, CEO Geoff Culbert told the conference.

Despite having access to road and rail, Mr Culbert said congestion was still a problem.

“We’re trying to come up with a road design that will survive the long term,” he said. “Under that design, you could drive from Parramatta or Castle Hill to the airport, without one traffic light. That’s what we’re aiming for.”