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Some might say it is a Harbour Bridge-like project, visionary in its scale, and that it will remain in use far into the future.
Others are saying it is a new ghost airport.
- Western Sydney International, a new A$5.6 billion airport, will handle its first passenger flight on Sunday, but its commercial prospects are in question due to a lack of airlines and flights.
- The airport has attracted only a handful of airlines, including Jetstar, Air New Zealand, and Singapore Airlines, and has half a dozen or fewer scheduled flights a day for the next 12 months.
- The airport’s challenges include a lack of rail link, high shuttle bus costs, and unproven passenger demand, leading some to compare it to other airports that failed to live up to expectations, such as Mirabel Airport outside Montreal.
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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific's leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
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