Support for a second Sydney airport is shrinking fast, and even the optimists have given up hope of a new airport being open when Sydney hosts the Olympic Games in 2000.
A final environmental study (EIS) is still due later this year but is unlikely to reverse the declining support.
The planned airport at Badgery's Creek, 46 km south west of Sydney, received its first setback earlier this year when the New South Wales state government withdrew its support. More recently, two cabinet members hinted that the Canberra state government is also ready to retreat.
John Faley, Australia's minister for finance and administration, acknowledged that environmental problems were "almost insurmountable". Mark Vaile, federal minister for transport and regional development, then publicly conceded that the federal government would only make its decision after the final EIS. This was the first time Canberra had withheld its unqualified support.
The latest defections came when the state opposition joined the New South Wales government in resisting the proposal. The state govern- ment of adjoining Victoria also called for its abandonment.
The proposed airport has suffered stiff opposition from local communities. A second EIS was ordered after the first one was widely criticised. Moreover, plans for a high-speed train between Sydney and Canberra have raised the possibility of locating a new airport further away from urban areas. With national elections set for October, politicians are hesitant to back such an unpopular project. The uncertainty over Badgery's Creek has made Sydney Australia's largest and only major state-owned airport.
Source: Airline Business