Genex:
The problem would only be exasperated by building another (or replacement) airport out west. At the end of the day you are only
moving the noise from one place to another. You may well have a better chance relaxing the KSA curfue or adding additional runways than you would building an entirely new airport in the very area of Sydney that is growing the fastest... I would assume there would be considerable opposition to any such plans. Sydney can only grow in so many directions, and westward seems to be the most popular / convienent. At least with KSA you can have aircraft arriving or departing over water most of the time. This cannot be said for Badgery's et al. When the airport is operating, you
will be annoying someone! And as if the folks out west wouldn't similarly expect a curfue... "The guys under KSA got one, so why can't we have the same curfue enforced out here???"
Furthermore, major capital city airports (such as SYD) become akin to small cities in their own right. Engineering facilities (less so now
), car rental lots, air cargo facilities, catering, hotels, admin / HQ, ATC, training facilities, fuel farms the list goes on and on and on... Point being, we're not not just talking about whacking a couple of runways out in the middle of nowhere here... and we're certainly not talking about building a HKG or ICN on reclaimed land where there aren't any noise issues. We're actually talking about building a large city with all the associated NOISE, traffic, congestion and other such issues, out in the western suburbs.
Then as mentioned you've got the issue of finances... the immense cost of building infrastructure not just at the airport itself, but
to the airport (read freeways, railways etc).
Perhaps people need to accept that airports are no different than railways, freeways and other means of transportation and infrastructure? Everybody whinges about the roads being crap, and how long it takes to get anywhere by road, but then whinge about living near a major freeway or intersection! Similarly, some whingers living next to the railway lines catch the train to work everyday! These things are a part of city life. Thankfully for those living under flightpaths, modern aircraft are getting considerably quieter.
And this is coming from someone who lives directly under the approach path for 16R!
Just my very humble opinion though.
Blockla:
I'm pretty certain I remember seeing a Concorde land on 16(R? even) as a kid?