Sydney Airport wants regulations eased

Sydney Airport wants regulations eased
By admin


Sydney Airport boss Kerrie Mather wants to see restrictions eased on the number of flights that can take off and land at the airport.

Currently, there is a federal government-imposed cap of 80 aircraft movements an hour at the airport, which is in turn broken down to 20 movements every 15 minutes.

Ms Mather said the regulation could work better without the 15 minute cap.

She said the 15 minute cap meant planes were often stuck on the tarmac, burning fuel while waiting for the minutes to tick over.

"The administration of some of those restrictions…that's an easy one to deal with," she said.

Ms Mather said the combination of the movement cap, the airport's 11pm to 6am curfew and noise-sharing regulations designed to spread air traffic across Sydney made it harder for the airport to operate efficiently.

"The confluence of all of those things actually make it a lot less efficient to manage the system than it could be," she said.

She said while the curfew was "not unusual" for airports operating close to a city, the noise-sharing rules were a burden on travellers.

"You'll notice that sometimes you go north to go south and that one hour flight turns into an hour and a half to go to Melbourne, that's noise sharing," she said.

Ms Mather also backed the federal government's review of the cost of departure taxes and visas.

She said while visas were typically free for European visitors arriving in Australia, Chinese nationals had to pay up to $130, which hampered efforts to attract more tourists from Asia.

"For visitors from our growth markets the cost of the process are a significant disincentive to discovering Australia, particularly when other destinations have much more flexible visa laws."

Latest News

  • Cruise

P&O rescues Rotary volunteers after collapse of Air Vanuatu

P&O Cruises Australia has answered a plea for help from a group of young Australian Rotary volunteers, stranded in Vanuatu following the collapse of Air Vanuatu. The students, many of them teenagers from Albury, NSW, were volunteering for a youth project run by the Hive Rotary Club Australia when the airline abruptly cancelled all flights, […]

  • Destinations

Intrepid continues expansions with launch of first DMC in Jordan

Intrepid has increased its presence in the Middle East with the opening of its first destination management company in Jordan. Based in Amman, the local team will operate Intrepid’s range of nine experiential small group tours in Jordan from this summer, with a view to expanding the range for 2025 and beyond. Zina Bencheikh, managing […]

  • Appointments

Minor hotels appoints Puneet Dhawan to key Asia role

Global hotel owner and operator Minor Hotels has appointed Puneet Dhawan as head of Asia as the group plots its growth in Asia and India. From July, Dhawan will be responsible for the performance of all Minor Hotels properties in Asia, working in close collaboration with the Minor Hotels senior leadership team and will report […]

  • Appointments

Abercrombie & Kent and Crystal appoint Evon Ler to director of sales, Asia

Abercrombie & Kent Travel Group have announced that Evon Ler will join them in the new role of director of sales, Asia. She will work closely with Tony Archbold (VP, Sales, APAC, Crystal) and Susan Haberle (VP, Sales & Partnerships, APAC, A&K) with trade support across the region. Ler comes to the A&K family with more […]