Sydney's new airport is eight decades in the waiting

Long-term mega transport projects are difficult to realise in Australia given the short political terms.

- Jonathan Pearlman

In 2026, Sydney will open its long-awaited second airport – a 24-hour facility that will transform the nation's transport capabilities and will inevitably be greeted by a wave of fanfare.

The new A$5.3 billion (S$4.5 billion) airport in western Sydney, built to meet growing domestic demand for air travel, will handle 10 million passengers a day by 2031. It will drive down airfares, create jobs and deliver a boost to the economy.

The impending celebrations and back-patting in Australia will also be accompanied by a collective expression of relief – that the airport is finally coming to fruition after a decades-long wait.

The project is embarrassingly overdue. First promised in the 1940s, it is part of an unfortunate story of persistent political failing in Australia to invest in infrastructure. Despite being a vast island continent with a fast-growing population that is highly concentrated in major cities on the east coast, the country's politicians have repeatedly failed to make ambitious, costly decisions to ensure that it keeps up with its transport needs.

For decades, Sydney – the country's most populous city with 5.3 million residents today – has desperately needed a second airport. The existing Sydney Airport, which opened in 1919, is one of the oldest in the world. It is also Australia's busiest airport, with about 45 million passengers coming through each year.

But its expansion has been curbed by its location in a residential area near the city centre, which includes a curfew from 11pm to 6am.