Western Sydney ‘not the centre of the universe’, says Avalon Airport
The chief executive of the Lindsay Fox-owned Avalon Airport Tony Brun says the government should give it the same generous support as that being pumped into Western Sydney, as well as co-invest in rail infrastructure needed to drive traffic.
Mr Brun says Western Sydney International Airport, which is government-owned, has assurances over air traffic control that give it a significant boost attracting foreign carriers. When it opens in 2026, it will be the first new airport in Australia since Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport opened in 1970.
Avalon Airport CEO Tony Brun on Friday. Luis Ascui
“The Commonwealth government is investing tens of billions of dollars jointly with the New South Wales’ state government to build Western Sydney, to address the problem [of capacity restrictions at Sydney Airport],” Mr Brun said.
“We’re not looking for government funding for our airport, but we want policy equivalents to what the government is going to give itself at Western Sydney.”
Avalon Airport has no curfew and could operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Mr Brun said, with only four houses in the flight path north between the airport and Mount Macedon 110 kilometres away, meaning noise issues that are plaguing Western Sydney and other inner-city airports are non-existent.
“But we need equivalence of service and reliability for our air traffic control operating hours, for our firefighting operating hours, for the Border Force and the biosecurity operations,” he said.
“They’re all committed and guaranteed for Western Sydney, but for us, they’re not and that creates problems for airlines wanting to operate here and even freight operations.”
Avalon has 38 major freight liners due at the airport over the next eight weeks, Mr Brun
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