Report pushes for more Sydney night flights

Sydney airport

Tourism New South Wales has issued a new report urging the Australian government to increase the number of night flights at Sydney airport.

In its Visitor Economy Taskforce Report, which has been submitted to the government, Tourism NSW outlined a series of measures to boost tourism in the state. Most notable was a recommendation that the number of weekly landings during Sydney airport’s ‘shoulder period’ of 5-6am be increased from 24 to 35. The report forecasts that such a move would boost overnight visitor expenditure by AU$228 million (US$241m).

The report also urged “urgent action” to boost transport links to Sydney airport, and encouraged enhancements to the scheduling at other regional airports such as Newcastle and Canberra.

Andrew Jefferies, General Manager of the Tourism Industry Council NSW welcomed the report, but suggested that the recommendations didn’t go far enough.

“The Tourism Industry Council NSW has strongly called for government action to increase aviation capacity at Sydney and at other locations and we welcome the release and findings in this part of the report”, said Jefferies. “Whilst the issue of a second Sydney Airport was not addressed in this report, we are appreciative that the short- to medium-term issues have been identified and significantly highlighted.”

By Mark Elliott, 10 August 2012, Friday 8:15 AM