TIC NSW Welcomes Recommendations on Sydney Airport

This morning’s release of the Visitor Economy Taskforce Report has demanded that the Federal Government relax restrictions on the operating capacity of Sydney Airport.

“Whilst stopping short of calling for a relaxation of legislative changes to the airport’s notorious curfew, it has outlined a number of sensible recommendations that would allow Sydney Airport to realise and achieve its natural capacity and operate as a world’s best practice operation”, the General Manager of the Tourism Industry Council NSW, Mr Andrew Jefferies has said.

The Visitor Economy Taskforce has prioritised and recommended that;

• An increase from 24 to 35 landings per week at the Airport’s shoulder curfew period between the hours of 5am and 6am each morning to reach consistency with the Sydney Airport Curfew Act 1995. With just an additional 11 movements per week during this period, an additional $228 million in overnight visitor expenditure per year can be derived.
• An amendment to the Demand Management Act 1997 that legislates for no more than 80 movements an hour could boost overnight visitor expenditure by $300 million per year if increased to 85 movements, or $600 million per year if increased to 90 movements per hour.
• Urgent action to address rail, road and bus network access to Sydney Airport
• A New South Wales Aviation strategy that aims to support growth to regional airports such as Newcastle, Canberra and Gold Coast/Coolangatta. Enhancements and more flexible scheduling of commercial flights at Newcastle Airport could deliver an additional $194 million per annum in visitor expenditure.
• The introduction of a common air border between Australia and New Zealand which could result in additional opportunities for international arrivals into regional destinations such as Newcastle.

“The Tourism Industry Council NSW has strongly called for Government action to increase aviation capacity at Sydney and at other locations and we welcome the release and findings in this part of the report”, said Mr Jefferies.

“Whilst the issue of a second Sydney Airport was not addressed in this report, we are appreciative that the short to medium term issues have been identified and significantly highlighted.  In particular, we are pleased that Minister Souris sees merit in the arguments put forward to unlock the legislative restrictions placed upon Sydney Airport by the Federal Government”.

In late July, the Federal Government announced that they had appointed consultants Worley Parsons, Ernst and Young and Booz and Company to study environmental, infrastructure, development and demand analysis for a second Sydney Airport at Wilton and the use of RAAF Richmond for limited commercial operations.

For further information, please contact Tourism Industry Council NSW General Manager, Andrew Jefferies upon 9267 6865 or 0417 448 935

Source: Accommodation Association of Australian, 10 August 2012