Western Sydney Airport


Western Sydney International Airport, locally Badgerys Creek Airport, or simply Western Sydney Airport, will become Sydney's second airport, located within the suburb of. The airport is planned to have 24-hour and curfew-free operations, in contrast to the existing Sydney Airport, which has reached capacity due to a legislated curfew and flight caps. The first stage of construction on the new airport began on 24 September 2018, which is expected to be complete and open by December 2026. The site was officially designated by the Australian Government on 15 April 2014, after decades of debate on the location of another airport within Greater Sydney.
The airport's location is situated west of the Sydney CBD and west of Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport. The site lies south of the City of Penrith CBD and approximately north of the City of Campbelltown CBD. The Township of Luddenham is located adjacent to the airport, 1 kilometre from the runway. It is also located within of the World Heritage Listed Blue Mountains National Park, sparking serious concerns about declared Wilderness, Wild Rivers, Amenity, World Heritage status and the City of the Blue Mountains economy. The site is within the City of Liverpool local government area and consists of approximately of Commonwealth land that was acquired between 1986 and 1991. Following the purchase, the decision was made by the Government that construction of a third runway at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport was more appropriate.
The airport is legislated for construction via the Commonwealth Governments Airports Act 1996, and is known as Sydney West Airport under this Act. The airport will be developed and operated under the Airports Act 1996. The Airport Plan released in December 2016 by the Commonwealth Government for the airport site notes that the airport is referred to in the Airports Act as Sydney West Airport is commonly known as Western Sydney Airport, and is officially known as Western Sydney International Airport. The official name was in honour of Nancy Bird Walton, the youngest Australian woman to gain a pilot's licence. The Federal Government claims the initial construction phase is expected to generate around 4,000 jobs, the airport development is expected to create 35,000 jobs by 2035, increasing to 60,000 jobs over time. Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed that the airport would "create 11,000 jobs during construction" and "28,000 within its first 5 years". However, such claims are contradicted by the Labour Market analysis commissioned by the government and published in 2017. According to this document, the airport is predicted to directly support 3,231 jobs during construction over 8 years, 13,169 from the airport combined with a business park during the first 5 years of operation and 24,046 from the combined airport and business park over the following 10 years.

Flight paths

On 19 October 2015, the draft environmental impact statement was released by the coalition government. This Statement outlined the proposed flight paths for Western Sydney Airport from initial opening in mid 2020s to 2050 for future flight paths for an international expansion. The draft EIS showed incoming flights merging approximately over the Blue Mountains town of Blaxland which already lies at an altitude of. Unlike Sydney airport, no 'flight sharing' was proposed to reduce noise impacts on individual suburbs. Instead, flight paths followed a single loop turning either south west or continuing south east after the Blaxland merge point, then either north east or south west towards Badgerys Creek. The height started at 1,266 metres above ground level over Blaxland, with the south west path descending over the World Heritage listed National Park, declared Wilderness, declared Wild Rivers, and Warragamba dam, until reaching 457 metres, over the township of Warragamba and descending towards the airport over Wallacia, Greendale, Silverdale and Luddenham before landing. The south east path descended over Glenbrook, Lapstone, Emu Plains Penrith, St Marys, reaching 457 metres over Erskine Park then 381 metres over the Twin Creeks and Sydney 'Science' Park housing estates prior to landing. Assessment of noise impacts were based solely on these flight paths.
After an extensive community backlash and as a last measure to secure her seat, Liberal Louise Markus MP and the coalition government announced a scrapping of this Blaxland merge point. In the final EIS, the flight paths, although remaining the same, were marked as 'indicative only'. A consistent message has been portrayed to the public since then that the flight paths are unknown, will not be released, noise impacts will not be assessed nor community consultation undertaken until after construction of the airport. Louise Markus lost her seat at that election, with a swing of -9.2, the first time that the Electorate of Macquarie had not been a 'Bell Weather Seat'.

Initial development

The site at Badgerys Creek was chosen because it was considered the preferred site by successive studies including an environmental impact statement that was completed in 1999. It is planned that the airport will be built in phases with the initial construction phase building a smaller airport with a single runway. The cost of the initial development has been estimated at 2.4 billion and to generate 4,000 jobs. The government plans the initial phase would be complete and operational by 2025. Sydney Airport Corporation, the operator of Sydney Airport, was given the right of first refusal to build and operate any second airport in an agreement reached with the Government when Sydney Airport was sold in 2002. Sydney Airport declined the offer to build and operate the airport on 2 May 2017.
It is believed the initial phase, with only one runway, would be favourable for budget airlines and airlines offering point to point travel. The airport will not have a night-time curfew, as the existing Sydney Airport now does.

Ground transport

Road connections

With the designation of site as the location of Sydney's Second Airport, announcements were made on new and upgraded transport links to the airport and surrounding areas of western Sydney. Known as the Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan, it included:
In April 2014, the Federal Government said it had no plans to build a train line. However, it indicated provision for the train line would be included in the development, this may include preparing the tunnels under the runway as part of the runway construction and preparing the underground space for a station. It was considered likely the rail connection to the airport would consist of an extension to the South West Rail Link from Leppington. In October 2015, Malcolm Turnbull indicated that the Badgerys Creek Airport would need both road and rail links to Sydney. A scoping study into rail investment to service Western Sydney and the Western Sydney Airport was announced in November 2015. The study was jointly managed by the state and federal governments. A discussion paper was released in September 2016. The paper proposed various options that could provide a rail link to the airport:
OptionMode
Extension of the South West Rail Link from LeppingtonSuburban rail
Line to the Sydney Metro Northwest at Rouse HillLikely to be metro
Extension of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest from Bankstown via LiverpoolMetro
Line to the Main Western railway line at St MarysSuburban rail
New express line to the Sydney CBD via ParramattaMetro
Line between Macarthur and Schofields via WSA and St MarysLikely to be metro

The final report was released in March 2018. It proposed that two lines would ultimately service the airport: a "North-South Link" from Schofields to Macarthur and an "East-West Link" from Parramatta to the "Badgerys Creek Aerotropolis" – an area south of the airport. The East-West Link would likely form an extension of the already-announced Sydney Metro West. An extension of the South West Rail Link to the Badgerys Creek Aerotropolis was also proposed; interchanging with the North-South Link or East-West Link would be required to access the airport itself.
At the same time, the governments announced the development of a new rail line serving the airport. This line would form part of the North-South Link, running south from St Marys to the airport, before continuing on to the Badgerys Creek Aerotropolis. Funding for the line will be split 50:50 between the governments. The report suggested that "a metro or light metro style of train would suit the North-South Link". The line, now known as Western Sydney Airport line, is scheduled to open by the time the airport opens in 2026.

Bus connections

New express bus routes to the airport precinct were announced in March 2018, running from Penrith, Liverpool and Campbelltown.

Development milestones