Qantas boss says WSI won't threaten Sydney Airport

By Andrew Curran.

The Qantas Group believes Western Sydney Airport will primarily serve leisure travellers once passenger flights begin, and that Sydney's legacy airport will be relatively immune to market cannibalisation.

Speaking at the CAPA Asia Pacific Airline Leader Summit in Adelaide last week, Qantas Domestic CEO Markus Svensson said the first round of passenger flights at Western Sydney Airport (WSI) will primarily cater to people who are flexible around schedules and travel times.

"At the start it will be a leisure-based airport," Svensson said.

Western Sydney primarily a leisure airport - at least in its early stages

Both Qantas Group carriers, Qantas and Jetstar, will fly to and from WSI, with Jetstar starting scheduled passenger flights to Melbourne (MEL), Brisbane (BNE) and Coolangatta/Gold Coast (OOL) in October, and Qantas starting scheduled passenger services to Melbourne and Brisbane in March 2027.

Svensson said announcements concerning the timing and frequency of flights from other passenger airlines that have committed to flying from Western Sydney Airport, specifically Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand, also point to WSI's status as a leisure-focused airport.

Air New Zealand will initially fly to Western Sydney Airport three times per week using one of its all-economy A320/A321 aircraft, while Singapore Airlines will operate daily using an A350-900, with a late-evening arrival at WSI and a departure timed for just before midnight.

Around two and a half million people live within Western Sydney Airport's immediate catchment area, but the airport, at least in its early years, will be hampered by a lack of public transport access.

Different type of airports limits market cannibalisation threat

Svensson said business travellers living near the airport may use it for business travel, but most will continue to favour Sydney Airport (SYD) because of its superior connections and flight frequencies.

When Qantas begins flying from WSI, it will initially operate four round-trips per week to Melbourne and Brisbane. By comparison, the airline frequently operates more than 30 round-trips a day on the Sydney – Melbourne city pair and up to 20 round-trips a day on the Sydney – Brisbane city pair.

"There's no doubt that the Sydney basin needs a second airport," said Svensson. "Yes, if you live in that part of Sydney, there's going to be some business travel, but business travellers want frequencies and schedules, and that's going to take some time."

He said the new airport would inevitably take some traffic from the city's established airport, but it would be limited.

"There's always some cannibalisation," Svensson said. "But Sydney Airport's proposition is quite different. That airport has so much international capacity that connects to domestic. To replicate that at Western Sydney, that's a long, long way away."

"I think Gatwick (LGW) in London is probably the best analogy," he continued. "It started off very much as a leisure airport, but it's getting fuller and fuller."

Qantas Freight up and running at WSI

Qantas Freight is already using Western Sydney, with the airport opening to freighter flights late last month. The Qantas Group has built an extensive high-tech freight facility at the airport, which Svensson said "is very different to what we have in other parts of the country,” and is now operating multiple daily freighter arrivals and departures, mostly during the night.

"It went very well," he said of the first freight flights. "We're up and running now."

Photo: Western Sydney Airport.
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com