This debate about Syd's 2nd airport will go on 'till jet fuel is no longer avail.
Lets look at the fundamental problems here with expansion of aviation in this country, any country for that matter.
We have a major Airport (Syd) the gateway to Aus that is curfewed, that alone is a huge restriction. For the few the whole of the country suffers.
Nobody wants an airport near their home,put it in some one else's backyard, the typical Aussie way of thinking so building a 2nd drome for Syd is out of the question for the foreseeable future,too hot a political potato.
Now the biggest issue that doesn't seem to get much of mention is frequency, yes the amount of planes coming & going to an airport.
Like our roads which are cactus morning & night with traffic/cars usually holding only 1or 2 people at a time all going to the same place to work.
I know the answer to that problem is better public transport to move people in bulk but that ain't gunna happen as we have Govt's who couldn't plan/run a kids toy train set efficiently! So no fix therefor the foreseeable future.
The same scenario is happening with moving people by air. Sure the distance is greater but the end result is the same,congestion & inefficiency.
This is hypothetical for now I know but instead of trying to offer the traveling public more choice time wise to travel the service will be to destination 'A' at a certain time along with several hundred others via one large airframe (A380 good Eg ) rather than 4 or so smaller airframes taking up more space/handling than just one. Am sure cost would still be acceptable.
Sure there will be greater handling times involved getting those say 600 bums on seats but that extra time can be allowed for & won't create any extra noise or extra pollution. Yes the same 600 people will still need the same parking etc so no change there other than airports would need to plan better ways to process them,a challenge in it's own right ! This scenario is from one major city to another. Hubbing will still need to take place due our large Island we live on/in.
I know this won't happen in the near future as the 'concrete as already been poured' (current fwd planning for airframes, so called current infrastructure etc for yrs to come albeit inadequate) for the next generation or so of people movers but someone some day will have to make a long term vision for the future of air travel & that doesn't mean setting up more LCC's to move the masses cheaply,that just compounds the problem.
It's like tackling obesity by letting out ones belt a little more !!
Food 4 thought as we go round & round in circles here (& not just in a holding pattern either) with this subject, Syd's 2nd airport which I might add would take years to get up & running, 10 yrs or so!!
Wmk2
Last edited by Wally Mk2; 7th Apr 2012 at 00:51.