I must state at the outset I am no expert on airlines but having read
a few items on the need for a second airport in Sydney and some figures
on passenger traffic, I just wonder if the politicians really know what
they are doing.

http://tinyurl.com/n5zyduz

It seems that many routes in and out of Sydney are not meeting their
expected increased levels or are stagnating.
Perhaps by the time they get the bulldozers out it may become obvious
that a 2nd airport is not a goer.

I notice that Macquarie has said it is not needed and that Mascot
can cope OK, but they would say that wouldn't they ?
I have no strong opinion either way, except that by the time it is
finished it may not be needed anyway, or alternatively they could
close Kingsford Smith and just use Badgeries Creek.
How would blocks of units built out on the runways into Botany Bay
sell ? Hi !

We have been talking of the need for a second airport in Sydney since the early 1970,s.
And Bagerys creek as the likely site.
Not in my back yard the NIMBYs want it but not near them, but it is needed if not right now, all too soon.
Right now is my view but we, constantly put off action and that could cost a great deal more in time to come

Belly,

I agree that we need the second airport, and that this has simply taken too long.

Talked about for decades, Vic doesn't have that problem, there was one already prepared when the air force moved north. I thought Howard was going to fix that problem.

Infrastructure should, & is planned many, many years in advance & so it should be. Not only that it should be in place well before that infrastructure is needed. At present the system seems to be that you wait until their is an overload then fight about it for a political advantage.

Airlines use jet fuel processed from oil. The global stock of oil is running out despite the desperate attempts by industry to augment the supply by such dubious means as fracking. Australia has already used up most of the Bass Strait oil and is having to compete with other countries as the Middle East wells decline. What would the second airport do for business as the airlines disappear and their aging aircraft park in the Arizona desert?