Sydney Morning Herald - Business & World News Australia | smh.com.au
SYDNEY AIRPORT'S chief executive, Kerrie Mather, has insisted that the airport has the ability to cope with increased demand for flights until at least 2050, despite the federal government stating repeatedly a second airport is needed urgently for the city.
The country's largest airport is attempting to garner support for a makeover planned for the next eight years that would remove the split between the domestic and international terminals.
Ms Mather said the plans were aimed at improving the airport's ability to meet capacity increases through measures such as using the same gates for both domestic and international flights.
''Being able to use the same gates for domestic and international is getting more productivity out of the existing [airport],'' she said.
''We have looked out to 2050 as part of a new vision [and] there is plenty of capacity then.''
But her comments fly in the face of those from the federal Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, who last week reiterated the need for a second airport and insisted Sydney Airport was struggling to cope with extra demand, especially at peak times. ''Sydney does need a second airport, sooner rather than later,'' he said.
He is due to release shortly a report into Sydney's future aviation needs, which is expected to recommend an increased use of Bankstown and Richmond airports as secondary airports for spillover flights.
Ms Mather said many of the airport's options for expansion had been exhausted under its existing master plan, whereas its latest proposal would give more room for capacity increases beyond 2019.
''It is making more of what we have got through a reconfiguration,'' she said.
The airport's ability to cope with extra demand would also be aided by an accelerating trend of airlines using larger aircraft such as Airbus A380s, she said. In the past decade, the airport's passengers had increased 40 per cent yet aircraft movements had remained static.
But Ms Mather would not comment on whether a second airport was needed, saying it was a ''matter for government''.
Sydney Airport reported a 2 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to almost $791 million for the year to December 31, despite what it described as a ''challenging environment''. But the company, formerly known as MAp Airports, posted a bottom-line loss of $240 million, compared with a $101 million profit a year earlier, which reflected an asset swap involving the transfer of stakes in Copenhagen and Brussels airports in return for a larger slice of Sydney Airport.
Ms Mather said the investment fund remained keen on increasing its stake in Sydney Airport beyond its existing 85 per cent stake if the opportunity arose at the right price.
The airport also disclosed that Ms Mather earned a total salary package of $3.4 million, which included a short-term bonus of about $1.5 million, last year.
It was a slight increase on 2010.