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.

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.)

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.