Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has committed to keeping Sydney’s new $5.3 billion airport curfew-free as he faces growing calls for its regulatory status to be altered to ease barriers to international airlines flying there.
Like arch-rival Sydney Airport, the new aviation hub in western Sydney has been designated a primary gateway airport under air rights agreements instead of receiving secondary statuses such as Darwin and Adelaide.
Its status will limit foreign airlines such as Qatar Airways from flying to the new Western Sydney Airport when it opens late next year if they have already reached the number of flights they can make to Sydney.
Western Sydney Airport will open to passenger flights late next year.Credit: Wolter Peeters
However, after a year of operation, the new airport’s status will be open for reconsideration by the next federal government.
Its existing status threatens to stifle the new airport’s ability to attract international airlines that have already reached the flight caps outlined in the bilateral agreements managing flight capacity between countries. Secondary gateway airports do not fall under these arrangements, opening up the possibility for more international flights.
Albanese said the new airport would “of course” remain curfew free, but did not directly answer questions about whether the government would consider easing limits on international airlines due to its designation as a primary gateway airport.
“We will have competition, and that is in the interests of consumers,” he said at the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue’s airport city summit on Thursday.
“You have ... a 12-month period where the course of competition may have to be on the level playing field, and that’s been in place for some time as part of the sale [of Sydney Airport].”
Regulations mean foreign airlines face limits on flying to Western Sydney Airport.Credit: iStock
Dialogue chairman Christopher Brown said the new airport should not be cruelled by heavy-handed regulations that apply to airports in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
“This needs to be an open-skies airport to attract every single airline carrier in the world. Western Sydney Airport should not be held back by some archaic regulation,” he said.
The state government and Western Sydney Airport have committed to a $16 million fund to help encourage international airlines to fly there.
NSW Transport Minister John Graham said the state wanted the best possible arrangements for the new airport, which could include federal government decisions to ease some restrictions.
“We are looking for the federal government to change those arrangements over time to give it the best potential to succeed,” he said.
Singapore Airlines is so far the only foreign carrier that has confirmed flights to the new airport.
Qantas and its budget offshoot, Jetstar, committed last year to base 15 domestic aircraft at the airport within a year of its opening, flying to destinations such as Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Qantas chief financial officer Rob Marcolina said the airline’s immediate focus for the new airport was on domestic flying, noting the restrictions on international traffic.
“Because of the designation of the airport, there are some restrictions with regards to the traffic rights. We would like, for example, to fly to Bali. There is a lot of interest in that, but we are restricted ... with traffic rights into Indonesia,” he told the conference.
“We just want to get started and see how it works. As we see the demand, we will absolutely have the opportunity to service that.”
Qantas is also the first airline to sign up for the new airport’s cargo hub.
Western Sydney Airport chief executive Simon Hickey said the airport was well over 90 per cent complete and was continuing talks with numerous international airlines.
“We are very much open for business, and that extends well beyond our airline partners,” he said.
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