Paul Phelan/CAIRNS
Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (KSA) is to retain its monopoly as the only major airport serving Australia's largest city, clearing the way for its privatisation in a sale expected to generate at least A$4 billion ($2.2 billion).
Australia's Federal Cabinet last week agreed to shelve construction of a proposed A$5 billion airport at Badgerys Creek, west of Sydney, for at least 10 years in a move which should boost the worth of KSA.
Canberra does, however, plan to legislate to protect the Badgerys Creek site against adjacent development incompatible with its use as an airport.
Government-owned Sydney Airports Corporation will be split into two. One part will operate KSA. The other will grow Sydney Bankstown general aviation airport and the smaller Camden and Hoxton Park airports to compete for overflow and regional traffic.
As part of the package, the already-privatised Canberra airport is to be developed to take Boeing 747-size aircraft, while plans have been ditched for a new airport at Kurnell, a proposed alternative to Badgerys Creek.
Plans for a high speed rail link between Sydney, Canberra and eventually Melbourne have been shelved pending feasibility studies.
KSA will meanwhile retain its 23.00-06.00 curfew, 80 movements per hour slot cap, and its slot allocation and pricing regime for regional aircraft - but its slot management system will be modified to favour larger regional aircraft and domestic trunk-route carriers seeking slots for larger aircraft.
Transport minister John Anderson says that these measures will allow KSA to cope with projected traffic to the end of the decade, and that it would be premature to build a second airport.
Details of KSA's privatisation are likely to be spelt out before a general election due in 2001. Though Australia's other major airports are already in private hands, KSA was kept under state control until after the Sydney Olympic Games.
Potential bidders include the UK's BAA, Amsterdam Schiphol, Manchester Airport and Airports Group International, all investors in other Australian airports.
• Qantas chief executive-designate Geoff Dixon says the carrier is preparing a "revised bid" for Hazelton Airlines, and will reveal details once it has been cleared with the regulators. Rival Ansett is now targeting 50.1% - not 90% - of Hazelton with its take-over bid. The regional's slot holding at KSA is central to its appeal.
Source: Flight International
