Sydney Airport nears capacity

By 2025 Sydney Airport will need a new runway, terminal or second site. Photo /

Sydney Airport will reach its full capacity 20 years earlier than management has predicted, with a new report indicating it will become constrained soon after 2025.

In the report "Sydney versus the World", Commonwealth Bank of Australia Infrastructure analysts Andre Fromyhr and Matt Crowe said airport management had less time than expected to address how it would handle volume growth.

It said that shortly after 2025 Sydney Airport would require new infrastructure such as a new runway, terminal or second site in order to meet increased demand. The report comes amidst the long-running debate over a second airport for Sydney.

Federal and state governments have been debating the need for a second site since the Hawke Government was warned about Sydney Airport approaching full capacity 27 years ago.

A number of sites for a second airport have been raised, from Badgerys Creek and Wilton, on Sydney's outskirts, to as far afield as Canberra and Newcastle.

During the late 1980s and 1990s the federal Government spent $170 million buying land at Badgerys Creek but a decision to proceed has yet to be made.

In March 2012, a joint federal and NSW government study found further inaction on increasing Sydney's airport capacity could have dire consequences and recommended proceeding with a new airport at Badgerys Creek and lifting the limit of 80 aircraft movements an hour. But Julia Gillard's Government has rejected both recommendations.

- AAP