Sydney Airport, the G20 summit and the Max factor
There are some peculiar things being said on all sides of the G20 summit/Sydney Airport row that the patient onlooker ought to treat with scepticism.
One is the Gillard Government’s claim that Sydney would need to park 40 jumbo jets for the duration of the event, which has instead been awarded to Brisbane, for late in 2014, and no doubt, just before the Brisbane river next bursts its banks.
This is a highly dubious figure for jet parking, and suggests that the government now expects massive upsizing to occur compared to previous G20s, which from anecdotal accounts, attract a smaller number of smaller jets, and a dozen or so airliner sized jets, including the ridiculously over-the-top entourage of jets in the case of the POTUS.
Almost none of those aircraft are said to have hung around at previous G20s, but had gone away and parked at other airports, or sometimes in other countries.
In the case of the Brisbane G20 it would not be surprising if a few of the jets get parked at Sydney, in the VIP and corporate jet area, or in the Qantas hard stand areas, or whatever the Qantas areas might be known as by then unless the current trajectory of management excellence is ‘adjusted’.
Apart from the incredibly small numbers of media embedded so to speak in heads of state aircraft, such as our own Reptile 1 BBJ, most of the predicted 3000 media who will attend will come and go on scheduled services. (Print media reporters will be sharing tents at outer suburban campgrounds.)
This predominantly digital media contingent will overwhelmingly travel on regular scheduled services, as will a large part of the official retinues, and would readily fit within a single hour’s worth of scheduled arrivals or departures from Sydney’s international terminal. Or a whole day’s international services in the case of Brisbane, including via domestic flights to Sydney or Melbourne to get flights that are unlikely to yet be be available from Brisbane, although its overseas traffic is growing at a healthy rate.
This supports the angst expressed by the NSW and Victoria governments over Sydney or Melbourne not being chosen.
However where the Gillard Government is right about Sydney Airport’s unfitness to cope is in respect of what happens when a large number of additional special flights, in fact, even less than one dozen of them, elect to arrive and unload, and then several days later, arrive again to load and depart, at busy times of the day and evening, which is increasingly in the case of Sydney, most of the day and the evening.
Never mind parking for a few days, which almost none of the assorted VIP jets are likely to do. Sydney airport today isn’t coping with peak hour demand, and jets are being held on the ground regularly for long intervals because under the rules, movements are shut down if there is a probability that the 80 movement an hour capacity limit will be breached.
This absurd situation, of loaded jets wasting kerosene and stuck between terminal gates and runways is already making Sydney a frustrating city in which to do business, and is like other infrastructure failings, turning the attention of the generators of business travel and economic activity elsewhere, notably Brisbane and Melbourne.
In today’s SMH Sydney Airport’s chairman, Max Moore-Wilton argues that Sydney could handle such a load as the G20 because of its success with the 2000 Olympics. As if. In 2000, Sydney Airport saw just over 25 million passengers, and in 2011 this had reached 36 million passengers and is expected to be well above 38 million for 2012 and is on track to exceed 40 million in 2014.
Moore-Wilton knows how to represent in compelling form the interests of his shareholders. That’s his job. He’s very, very good at it too. But Sydney Airport is also on record saying it is for sale for the right price.
While Moore-Wilton’s commentary is always one to be treated with respect, it is partisan, and lacks the independence and dare I say it ‘purity’ that would make it advice on which the NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell ought to rely upon while he awaits the multi billion dollar investment the private sector is clamoring to make in order to build a high speed rail link to Canberra Airport which won’t be competitive with current coach or private car access to the terminal on the Majura Plains from anywhere but a tight radius around wherever the high speed rail terminal is located in the Sydney basin.
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Ben, If anyone sees or hears anything suspicious around Brisbane or any other Australian airport around G20 or even before then, presumably because the AFP staff will all be away attending planning meetings for G20, we are all being encouraged to call them and report such suspicious activity (see http://www.afp.gov.au/media-centre/news/afp/2012/july/see-it-hear-it-report-it-airport-watch-new-program-launched.aspx) . The Media Release draws parallels to the Neighbourhood Watch scheme which was invented to save State governments from employing an effective police force. The message seems to be that the focus of airport security will be on Brisbane Airport, making G20 a “poisoned chalice”.
by nonscenic on Jul 12, 2012 at 11:40 am
What on earth is ‘nonscience’ saying?
by ltfisher on Jul 12, 2012 at 1:07 pm
In Brief: The costs of security for G20 will mean that frontline staff AFP at other airports will be reduced and the general public are being asked to report suspicious activity themselves. Don’t visit Brisbane Airport near the time of G20 unless you enjoy the TSA style antics of US airport security.
by nonscenic on Jul 12, 2012 at 1:52 pm
What indication have the Federal Government given that they’re interested in selling the Badgerys land?
by Aidan Stanger on Jul 12, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Considering both Sydney and Brisbane have large airbases not far from their main civil airports the location for parking for HoG aircraft seems to be looked after in a similar extent.
Auckland seem to manage with about the same number of top level aircraft as the G20 when they had APEC. this included PotUS ( x2 747), China (747) Japan (747) and Russia (IL86) and others parked around its single runway. the Australian PM used a Dassault 50.
by ghostwhowalksnz on Jul 12, 2012 at 3:57 pm
The official line for some time has been that once a suitable site for a 2nd airport has been found, other than the Badgerys Creek site recommended by the independent inquiry, which really annoyed the government by being independent, it would move to dispose of the Badgerys site.
I’m guessing they might sell it to a large coal seam gas company, thus totally destroying the air transport future of the city and its water supply at the same time, since stuffing things up seems to be what it does best.
by Ben Sandilands on Jul 12, 2012 at 4:36 pm
Ben – I am really surprised at your pro-SYD rhetoric “G20 summit/Sydney Airport row”. What row? Are you referring to the sour grapes, I wouldn’t be seen dead in Brisbane, rubbish being peddled by your Mexican politicians? I assume that you were fed the same nonsense when Perth got CHOGM, when the International Coral Reef Symposium went to Cairns (I’m sure SYD has a better Coral Reef than Qld somewhere), when the Sheiks from the Middle East park their jumbo jets in Brisbane to buy horses on the Gold Coast (Why don’t they park them in SYD, what’s wrong with them!)…and so on. There are many events going on around the country at any one time and just like the G20 our major cities have to bid for them. On this occasion Sydney and Melbourne and Perth and Adelaide and Argadargada all lost out. Let’s move on.
In terms of parking BNE could accommodate at least 20 large biz-jets just on the GA Apron never mind the acres of old runway and taxiway that are hardly used to the south of the ITB. However I’m sure at least a couple of them will want to visit SYD to experience ….. oh sorry I can’t think of anything that you can’t see in Brisbane. (yeah I know there’s a replica of the bridge originally built across the River Tyne between Gateshead and Newcastle in the UK and an Opera House.)
In terms of airport issues you are of course spot on…so I think we can say they brought this on themselves.
by Geoff on Jul 12, 2012 at 6:12 pm
“including the ridiculously over-the-top entourage of jets in the case of the POTUS.”
Yup. The US Presidential entourage is absurd. Way, way over the top for what’s practically needed. I mean, why do they need a bunch of their own trucks with steering wheels on the wrong side?
by Tamas Calderwood on Jul 12, 2012 at 6:20 pm
Tamas , the US entourage need their own trucks/SUVs mainly for the communications equipment they carry. The US military resources are so large is easy to drive them on board a cargo plane and drive them off the other end. I have seen photos of an aircraft carrier with a deck load of cars for the crew. It was just changing home ports.
by ghostwhowalksnz on Jul 13, 2012 at 7:27 am