Western Sydney Airport plan

The Australian Logistics Council has welcomed confirmation the Federal Government has approved construction of Western Sydney Airport, and encouraged the government to ensure freight is a central component of all new infrastructure planning and construction works.

"Australia's large and rising national freight task includes significant growth in the air freight sector and so it is imperative Sydney's next airport is planned and built in such a way that accommodates expected future freight flows," says Michael Kilgariff, ALC managing director.

"According to the 2013 Aviation White Paper, air freight volumes are expected to double by 2025 while the NSW Government predicts Sydney Airport will deal with more than 1.5 million T of cargo each year by 2035 - up from 650,000 T in 2012.

"It is therefore imperative that a second Sydney airport, which has been identified by Infrastructure Australia in its Infrastructure Priority List as a High Priority Initiative, is established in the most efficient manner possible to share this growth in traffic.

"In a practical infrastructure sense, this means appropriate land preservation to construct future logistics facilities and infrastructure links when they are required."

A second Sydney airport was locked in on Monday when Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Federal Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher signed off on the Badgerys Creek plan.

The Airport Plan was formulated after decades of debate about the Badgerys Creek site.

Stage One of Western Sydney Airport is due to be operational in the mid 2020s, with a single runway and facilities for about 10 million passengers a year.