Article: The Fate of "Second" Airports Far from the City Centre

[AFF Editor]

The Fate of "Second" Airports Far from the City Centre is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

The Fate of "Second" Airports Far from the City Centre

Many major cities have built a second airport much further away from the city. Some of them have been doomed to fail, but I don't think Western Sydney International Airport (WSI) is.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[Scarlett]

It seems so counter intuitive that an airport would make the pax journey difficult, if those pax had a choice. How would NLU make money by disincentivising pax and airlines, or has that been more the unintended consequence of, well, greed and stupidity?

Sounds like WSI have done many things right and the growing population in W and SW Sydney certainly helps in a way that Geelong an AVV can probably never match.

Another case study in poor decision making was the Indonesian government and their decision to build a large second airport for Bandung. The ‘old’ airport of BDO is genuinely close to the city centre, about 6Km away. It’s a dual user airport which is actually an Indonesian Air Force base but has a civil terminal and flights. In the mid-teens the National Government commenced work on the new Kertajati (KJT) airport. Large, modern, with a long runway and in fairly flat terrain, it was everything that BDO was not. The Air Force were happy because they get all of their base back, and some locals residents were happy as they’d no longer have 737s and A320s flying close to their houses.



The problem was that when they opened the new 5 trillion rupiah (~USD310 million) KJT in late 2017, the highway (toll road) hadn’t been finished and the only public transport was shuttle buses taking 2 hours or the Damri public bus taking longer. So virtually no one used it.


Even now it’s still 90 minutes (best case) with a toll.

In mid 2018 the government forced the issue and closed BDO to commercial jets, leaving only the occasional ATR72 flight to JOG. Most airlines did initially move to KJT but with lesser numbers of services, so people went to Jakarta where they had more choice. Eventually there was only one or two flights a day at KJT because there weren’t enough pax to justify more. Last year they were down to a single Scoot flight a week to Singapore and that was it. A giant white elephant!

Finally, after 8 years the government admitted the error of their ways and decreed that BDO could reopen; and it recently has.



KJT is apparently now going to be a freight hub, targeting freight to/from Jakarta (2.5 - 3 hours away), so let’s see how that plays out.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

The biggest benefit is that it lacks the perpetual crowds of SYD.

Well that benefit will inevitably disappear. One way or the other.
If the airport succeeds, it will draw crowds.
If it doesn't draw crowds, it will fail.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Another example is La Tontouta Airport in New Caledonia.
It was upgraded in 2012 from a military only airport to replace Magenta Airport which is located within the capital city of Nouméa.
La Tontouta is 56 km away from central Nouméa (37 km from the edge of the greater Nouméa area).

It is an awful road: only one lane in each direction for most of the way (basically that 37 km).
Further, drivers in New Caledonia are absolutely mad and take unacceptable risks.
They will overtake at any cost and play a game of chicken with oncoming traffic.
They often drive without lights at night.

From 2012 until March 2026, La Tontouta served as the international airport while Magenta handled domestic flights.
There are a surprisingly large number of domestic flights within New Caledonia.
These service regional cities due to the mountainous terrain on the main island Grand Terre: there is only one principal north-south highway, on the west coast, and only two roads cross from the west to east coast. There is no direct road link at all between the southern and northern east coast.
They also service the tourist island of Ile des Pins, and the three Loyalty Islands: Maré, Lifou and Ouvéa.
There is a fourth, smaller Loyalty Island: Tiga, but it is mainly served via Maré or Lifou.
The Loyalty Islands are mostly populated by the Kanak people, many of whom commute to Nouméa for work.
(Side note: please don't plan to visit Maré if you don't speak French: no one there speaks any English. You'll be fine on Lifou or Ouvéa.)
(Second side note: French is the lingua franca in New Caledonia: each of the Kanak tribes speaks a different language and use French between tribes.)

In March 2026 the government of New Caledonia moved all commercial passenger flights from Magenta to La Tontouta.
However this placed a tremendous burden on the Kanak people commuting for work.
Instead of a walk or a quick bus trip from Magenta Airport to work, they were faced with a 56 km road trip.

In May 2026 the Government relented, and Magenta was reopened to domestic commercial passenger flights.

So while La Tontouta hasn't "failed" as an international airport, it has failed to replace Magenta as a domestic airport.

 

[Forg]

I suspect the WSI business plan is about Sydneyites traveling rather than people coming to Sydney.
OS travelers will put up with annoying transfers if it saves them a couple hundy in airfares, but dunno how many airlines that works for …

 

[RooFlyer]

Another - Istanbul.

Old IST closed - close to the city but too hemmed in. New IST an hour away by freeway ( add some for inner city congestion ) and very successful. Freeways in from the start however, metro not connected at the start. Is nowadays, but you have to change lines via a surface walk. Poor planning on that side.

SAW on the Asian side of the Bosphous, still operating but in a lesser role. About equi distance from the city centre as IST.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Another - Istanbul.

Old IST closed - close to the city but too hemmed in. New IST an hour away by freeway ( add some for inner city congestion ) and very successful. Freeways in from the start however, metro not connected at the start. Is nowadays, but you have to change lines via a surface walk. Poor planning on that side.

SAW on the Asian side of the Bosphous, still operating but in a lesser role. About equi distance from the city centre as IST.

And of course there is ATH ...

 

[moa999]

Another - Istanbul.

Forced closures like IST and HKG are obviously guaranteed to work.

NRT somewhere in the middle, as they've gradually allowed more international flights at HND but only well after NT established itself.. and the limo bus is generally still the best way between them.

Also for PVG, the Maglev doesn't exactly go into the city, Indeed if you have a big wait, and adding transfers, you probably would have been better on Line 2 all the way.

 

[luxury-lizard]

Well here's the opinion of a Sydney CBD resident and frequent flyer. The NSW government completely stuffed up by not having the Metro completed - better still a fast train from the CBD (I realise this was never on the cards). Oh yes and no ridiculous surcharge on the fares.

Personally, the only way I would use WSI is if I could save something like $2000 on an international airfare - making it reasonable to use a car/driver service (at about $200+ each way, I presume). As an aside I have noticed that SQ sometimes have award J seats ex-WSI when there's nothing on the same date ex-SYD - so maybe that could be a factor.

 

[Forg]

Well here's the opinion of a Sydney CBD resident and frequent flyer. The NSW government completely stuffed up by not having the Metro completed - better still a fast train from the CBD (I realise this was never on the cards). Oh yes and no ridiculous surcharge on the fares.

Personally, the only way I would use WSI is if I could save something like $2000 on an international airfare - making it reasonable to use a car/driver service (at about $200+ each way, I presume). As an aside I have noticed that SQ sometimes have award J seats ex-WSI when there's nothing on the same date ex-SYD - so maybe that could be a factor.

The public transport will come, I can see negatives of opening the airport before public transport is available but there are positives too.

More of Sydney lives closer to WSI than SYD, than there is of Sydney who lives closer to SYD than WSI ... and it already costs either hours on PT or hundreds of dollars in taxis/Ubers for that greater-proportion to get to SYD.
WSI location isn't good for tourists, though.

 

[offshore171]

If it doesn't draw crowds, it will fail.

I figure the bulk of air-freight traffic will end up at WSI. The 24h operations and lower fees should ensure that. Gov't could even mandate it in the longer term.

That alone should keep it viable.

Look at Anchorage Alaska (ANC). An extremely busy and important airport, yet the city only has a quarter of a million people.

Cargo makes it punch way, way above its weight

 

[Forg]

I figure the bulk of air-freight traffic will end up at WSI.

Aw ... that means not seeing the freight airline 747's anymore!