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.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 06, 2025 من The Straits Times.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 06, 2025 من The Straits Times.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Passengers say Turkish Airlines flights have bedbugs
Shortly after boarding her Turkish Airlines flight from Johannesburg to Istanbul in March, Ms Patience Titcombe from Phoenix noticed a small bug crawling on her seat when she got up to use the restroom.
Actor Ben Yeo shutters restaurant after incurring $1 million loss in two years
Local actor and F&B entrepreneur Ben Yeo is shutting down the high-end modern Chinese restaurant he founded, Tan Xiang Yuan, after two years.
Director Jeff Baena elevated dark themes with humour in his works
American director and screenwriter Jeff Baena, who co-wrote the dark comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004) and directed films including Life After Beth (2014) and Horse Girl (2020), died on Jan. 3 at a residence in Los Angeles. He was 47.
Squid Game star denies ties with South Korea ruling party's former leader
Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae has distanced himself from the party of South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol after a photo of him with the party's ex-leader resurfaced online, according to Korean media.
Japanese cast dominates as Shogun breaks new ground
Comeback stories and Asian representation at the awards show celebrating the best in film and TV
A toast to Switzerland
The country is adopting a sip-and-stay approach to spread the word on its best-kept secret – wines
Saving the mysterious African manatee in Cameroon
Ever since his first hard-won sightings of African manatees, award-winning marine biologist Aristide Takoukam Kamla has been devoted to protecting the little-known and at-risk aquatic mammals.
'CRAZY' CHUA TURNS PRO
S'pore triathlete aims to win SEA Games, qualify for Asian Games and Olympics
The fall in sport is cruel, inevitable and hard to digest
In sport, this is the guarantee. Falls will be hard. The boxer sent to the canvas. The rugby winger brought to earth. The gymnast slipping off the high bar. And the hero tumbling from his pedestal.
AMORIM WANTS SAME 'MENTALITY EVERY DAY'
United need to replicate the fortitude shown in draw at Liverpool to become a better side