A new additional airport for Sydney is proposed.

In most of the posts we see here, we can see where government has
failed to either grasp the nettle and do something practical, or it
wants to pretend that she'll be right Jack.
Well here is a classic;
The Federal Government called for input on a green paper on aviation.
They refused an input from the Australian Assoc for Study of Peal Oil
on the grounds that they cannot include everything.
I would have thought that fuel depletion would be rather important
input to such a document.

The White Paper on Aviation has now been published and there is not
a word about oil supply difficulty except to acknowledge a small
problem a few months back, but better organisation will fix that.

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/aviation/nap/files_white_paper/091215_Full.pdf

The Uppsala University has issued a paper on aviation and oil depletion.

http://www.tsl.uu.se/uhdsg/Publications/Aviationfuels.pdf

A lot more here; http://www.crudeoilpeak.com/?p=838

The government is proposing that a new airport be build for Sydney.
They will be initiating a search for a suitable site.
It occurs to me that by the time a site is found and all the
environment studies are complete and then the airport construction is
finished and opened with great fanfare it will no longer be needed.
By that time only the richest people and politicians will still be
flying so the present airport will be more than is required.

It does make you wonder whether we are the subject of a gigantic leg
pull by the governments of the world.

Bazz,

Thanks for the site (sigh ) more reading.

I've had a wander through the pages I am wondering what is his point anti badgery's creek or raising the peak oil bit.The reliance on the SMH self interested sob stories worry me from an objective point.
Land grab conspiracies be damned.

I've been aware of peak oil for quite some years. I have recollection of a book being put out on it 30 years ago in which it spelt out it was imminent then.
There is a Arabic saying that come out in the 70's Which said my grand father rode a camel, My father Drove a Roles Royce my son flies a plane my grand son rides a camel.
The wisdom in that is quite profound. The generation before mine didn't/don't recognize, Something that my generation (baby boomer)toyed with but did nothing about it. This generation worry about it, God help our grand-children.

Two things jump out at me proof that the cheapest way (the underpinning of capitalism?consumerism) isn't always the best.

The second is the power big business has over the testicles of the political parties.

I'm not sure its big enough of a disaster at the moment but it's coming. One might adapt to A less CO2 lifestyle i.e. we will probably reach 2.5 degrees increase be fore people will uniformly do something.
But lessening of oil well, that will be a catastrophe that will have serious effect on our 'lifestyle'.

I not convinced its all a con, at the very least its commonsense. Never before man had a single species altered the world so dramatically, effecting environments.

Well yes examinator, they have ruled out Badgeries Creek so it will
take some time to settle on something else.
I didn't make myself clear about having our leg pulled.
I meant "they" are only pretending to not understand about peak oil
and are just playing us poor taxpayers. Fits the typecast.
If it is a conspiracy it is too well organised worldwide for our
pollies to be in on the joke.

It must cost several $Billions to build an airport, so how could they
keep all the consultants in line ? With money I suppose.
Still maybe they don't intend to ever build another airport, just
camouflage.
It would explain why they refused an ASPO submission.
What will be interesting to watch is to see if it is to be a
PP, (Public/Private) financed project.
I would say that if it is to be a public financed job there will be
no intention to build it.
They won't want anybody doing due diligence.
Ahhh, I am becoming a cynic !

I think you may be ascribing a different meaning to that which was intended, examinator.

>>There is a Arabic saying that come out in the 70's Which said my grand father rode a camel, My father Drove a Roles Royce my son flies a plane my grand son rides a camel. The wisdom in that is quite profound.<<

This is simply an adaptation of the universal awareness that maintaining financial wizardry down generations is difficult.

"Rags to rags in three generations"

http://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Sayings/Quizzes/2/Rags_to_rags_in_three_generations_585.htm

There is a Chinese saying that describes the same phenomenon as:

"Wealth does not endure three generations"

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P1-54331367.html

None of these has the slightest acquaintance with "peak oil".

As far as the original question is concerned...

"The Future of Aviation, is there any Future at all ?"

I hope the answer is "yes", because I need to get to Melbourne in a couple of weeks, and the alternative means of transport are singularly unattractive.

Which is, of course, the fundamental challenge we face in "fixing" the problem.

Until and unless there is a genuine alternative, I am forced to use air transport. Any intelligent government would have established a high speed rail connection between key business centres, decades ago - it isn't as if the technology doesn't exist; the Japanese completed the bullet train connection between Tokyo and Osaka some fortyfive years ago.

Unfortunately, governments - aided and abetted by business interests - are reluctant to spend our taxes on infrastructure, preferring to hand it over to the private sector to screw up. The litany of corruption and gonzo economics that accompany the histories of Sydney's host of toll roads and tunnels is recent testimony to the shortsightedness and stupidity of this policy.

Regrettably, only calamity will change this attitude.

With luck, that calamity will hold off until after my Melbourne trip.

Pericles,
But is it *absolutely* necessary ? Are you sure you're not being an ecological vandal? Besides will the border police let you back? Will there be a coupe while your away? Will the state secede now that their intelligentsia has left them to their own devices? My family are all going overseas on Monday (by ship)....damn boat people. Mmmm Mass Evacuation Monday.

I've exceeded my internet level, damn those universities and You Tube 1970(reminiscing) it was a clear conspiracy to silence us don't you think?
"I love the smell of a conspiracy in the afternoon". my version of Apocalypse Now?

BTW the Arab wise saying was used to illustrate the rise and fall of oil as it was percieved, at the time. About the time that the Australia Party ran their ZPG policy. ( a well know scientist of the time wrote a book on peak oil based on known resources at the time predicting 1980's (I think).
Like I said, "we saw the problem, we protested, then we did nothing."...The eternal shame of the maturing generation. We (baby boomers) have become the people we complained about, when we were young. ;-)

The second airport sounds like the Brisbane tunnels - a civil engineering solution that ignores the other changes that are likely to take place even if peak oil is not an issue. For example:
- Software to increase the land/take-off rate at the existing airport.
- Larger average plane sizes.
- Reduced business and family travel due to improvements in Skype and video conferencing.
- Growing moral pressure to take once in a lifetime long trips instead of more frequent travel.