Business
Sydney's $4 billion airport opens with few daily flights
Livemint·
Western Sydney International opened Sunday with a Jetstar flight to the Gold Coast at the A$5.6 billion ($4 billion) airport 50 kilometers inland. Cirium cited six or fewer flights daily for the next 12 months. Qantas and others are cutting domestic capacity as fuel costs rise. A rail link may open in 2027; a shuttle bus to Sydney costs A$55.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Travellers near western Sydney may use the new airport if airlines add routes, but schedules remain sparse for a year.
- Commuters without cars face a A$55 bus ride of about one hour versus 20 minutes to the main airport.
- Jetstar passengers on the inaugural Gold Coast service set the first commercial timetable for the field.
What's Happening
- Nancy Bird Walton's name honours a pioneering Australian aviator on the government-owned airport.
- Professor David Levinson said the main airport stays more convenient for most travellers.
- The airport forecasts 8.4 million passengers annually by decade end and nearly 20 million by 2045.
Why Sydney's second airport lags
- Planning delays, protests and funding gaps stretched the project over half a century.
- Airlines struggle to secure new jets, limiting aircraft for unproven routes.
- Global travel faces pressure from rising fares since the Iran war began.
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