Several media outlets are reporting the newly elected Coalition Australian government are about to push ahead with the development of Badgerys Creek as the site of Sydney's second airport.
Incoming deputy prime minister Warren Truss said the Abbott government would not delay the question of another Sydney airport by more studies and would base its decision on major analysis completed last year by the federal and state governments.
Mr Truss said decisions on where and when to build another airport would be made on the basis of two reports: the joint study completed last year, which recommended Badgerys Creek, and a separate masterplan being prepared by the owner of Kingsford Smith Airport, to be finished by the end of this year. Mr Truss has ruled out the Wilton site for the airport. Wilton was proposed by the previous Labor Government.
Several studies have shown that all available slots at Sydney Airport will be exhausted in the peak periods of 6 am to noon and 4 pm to 7pm by 2020.
The government is also considering utilising the RAAF base at Richmond in the west of Sydney as a stopgap measure for overflow of traffic from the existing Sydney airport at Mascot.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/badgerys-creek-firms-as-prime-contender-20130909-2tg8b.html for Sydney Morning Herald report.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/badgerys-creek-firms-as-prime-contender-20130909-2tg8b.html