Sydney International Airport

[International Lady]

Truly sad state of affairs here! From daily baggage belt problems thanks to outdated technology which cannot cope with loads, to air conditioning that doesn't work, toilets whose hand dryers have carried the signs 'do not use- out of order' since June, ceilings which leak whenever it rains (even through downlights), and yesterday a complete blackout for nearly half an hour!! No computers, lighting, belts, video surveillance etc etc!!! Do they not have a back up system? Scary thought!

Also the airport is the filthiest airport! When you are next in the terminal, take a look up towards at the ceiling tiles and check out the colour of them near every air conditioning vent!

More delays, more mishandled baggage, more grumpy passengers - hey, why not find the nearest airline employee who puts up with these conditions everyday, and take it out on them!! Nice!

 

[serfty]

G'day International Lady,

Welcome to AFF.

Seems you are weel an truly aware of many of SYD T1's problems.

Are they fixable?

 

[Mal]

Every time I head out through T1 at Sydney, I see more and more how old it is and how shabby it is looking. Agree with everything in International Lady's post. Everything even down to the carpet in places looks old and shabby. Queues seem to be quite common in all parts of the terminal (customs, immigration, check-in, transfer etc).

There seemed to be a lot of bussed pax this morning in SYD from remote stands - were there issues with some aerobridges or similar I wonder? Or is the airport just having too many flights arriving at the same time and not enough capacity?

The Domestic Transfer Checkin/Connections area is also a shamble. Understaffed, horrible corridor with no signage as to where people should be. Then passengers are taken on a magical journey (which I like, but many people don't) through some pretty average areas of the airport.

Of course everything is fixable - it just needs time and money. Will it be fixed? That's yet to be seen.

 

[pauly7]

I know this sounds quite funny, but I'm sure I'm not the only one.... I check in at the airline premium desks, go straight to the airline lounge then straight to the plane, I kind of miss everything you talk about

Luggage has always been fine for me, guess I've been lucky!

I'm flying out from Syd next week so will stop and pause and actually look at the terminal

 

[NYCguy]

SACL "Cash Surpluses" as per the Annual Report for 2006 -

2006 - AU$294 M

2005 - AU$417 M

... And yet SYD International continues it's slow degradation. Perhaps SACL is aiming for a developing world-style airport for SYD - it would certainly keep their costs down and increase the return to shareholders. Meanwhile, travellers continue to feel duped every time they pass through the international terminal, particularly the Arrivals Hall, which reminds me of SVO in the early 1990's.

Almost every time I pass through SYD INT I send an email to SACL to complain about the overcrowding, the endless queues for AQIS screening and the general squalor of the place. Every time I receive the same form-letter reply. I really don't think that they care about the passengers, and it makes me wonder which airport SACL executives use as their international gateway port?

For half of the AU$294M "cash surplus" from 2006, the whole of the international terminal could be given a bloody good renovation and scrub-up. But that would mean a few less bottles of Chateau D'Yquem for the investment bankers who run the funds that own the majority of the shares, so I wouldn't be holding my breath that it will happen. I just remind myself that there is a sparkling, modern city just outside of the Soviet-style ambience of the SYD Arrivals Hall, I smile sweetly, and repeat to myself "I never did mind the little things".

 

[Hvr]

Wonder how much longer until their lease expires?

That wil be th only consideration as to whether or not the terminal ever gets updated/renovated.

If (hypothetically) the lease runs for another 3 years and they determine that the current facilities can last until then with minimal or no major maintainence then nothing will be done until they have written confirmation that they have a new lease.

Of course they really have a captive market with the airlines routing everything through SYD, therefore there is no real incentive to spend money to make money.

They will make the money regardless and they didn't get rich 'wasting' money. And it is a waste to spend money when you still get the same return, or at best no greater return than the amount spent plus the cost of the money.

Basically get used to the terminal deteriorating further and looking even worse.

 

[International Lady]

There is a long overdue, planned renovation of the terminal - and guess who's paying for it??? YOU, via your airline of choice. Yes the airlines are being made to pay and will pass it on to the passengers.

Doesn't really make sense - MacBank owns it, you pay for the renovation, they get an asset that is worth more $$ and will have better facilities, therefore up the rental prices, parking fees, trolley fees ($4!!) etc etc.

Did you know that airlines get charged for the signs above the checkin desks? Yes, to show the actual airline and the flight number at that desk.

Did you know if you fly out on a Sunday - when nearly every foreign airline that has 3 or 4 flights per week - has a flight, it is very likely you will be using a 'bus' bay as they run out of parking bays??! Some of these gates don't have a paging system that works, so when there is a gate change (when a plane leaves a normal gate and they decide to move yr flight to a real gate) no one knows about it because they don't hear the announcement on the bus bay departure level??

 

[oz_mark]

Wonder how much longer until their lease expires?

That wil be th only consideration as to whether or not the terminal ever gets updated/renovated.

If (hypothetically) the lease runs for another 3 years and they determine that the current facilities can last until then with minimal or no major maintainence then nothing will be done until they have written confirmation that they have a new lease.

From memory it is on quite a long term lease. I suspect that much of the problem is that the government didn't put in place the measures to ensure that a certain quality was maintained

 

[Mrmaxwell]

What do you expect when a bank runs an airport!

Cash surplus? How do you think Mac Bank pays all those exec bonuses??? They should change the term 'airport tax' to 'MacBank bonus tax'

 

[Reggie]

What do you expect when a bank runs an airport!

A better airport than Perth.

 

[oz_mark]

A better airport than Perth.

Not setting the bar very high there, are you?

 

[straitman]

A better airport than Perth.

Perth Airport is fine. All that needs to be done is get ride of 80% of the people :!:

 

[ethernet]

I think International visitors are voting with their feet. Traffic is DOWN, and their first impressions less than stellar - they go back and talk.
Syd airport is shabby, and relativity greedy - resulting in sore feelings.

It takes a while for bad rap to happen, and while SACL may make good, the overall pie shrinks.

The train fare is a joke. Keeping it sky-high just crystallizes negative impressions, along with $4 trolley and 7 buck parking. Too bad I've discovered the bus - no gravy when I go. And my 600ml water bottle seem to escape security most times.

 

[anat0l]

I think International visitors are voting with their feet. Traffic is DOWN, and their first impressions less than stellar - they go back and talk.
Syd airport is shabby, and relativity greedy - resulting in sore feelings.

It takes a while for bad rap to happen, and while SACL may make good, the overall pie shrinks.

The train fare is a joke. Keeping it sky-high just crystallizes negative impressions, along with $4 trolley and 7 buck parking. Too bad I've discovered the bus - no gravy when I go. And my 600ml water bottle seem to escape security most times.

I'm surprised about the bottle, but considering people have got outrageous stuff past even the most stiffest security out there.......

SYD is a bit of a downer as a face for Australia's greeting to the world - how it got into Forbes's top 10 international airports a few years ago is a funny one.

I agree that the train fare to/from SYD is extortion, but BNE is pretty much the same tack too. What are our people thinking? Transport options to SYD are pretty much equal, except for public bus, which means getting up pretty early to make the first flights of the day, and hoping that there is a bus if you are one of the last of the night. (But otherwise cheap - bus fares were ~$5 adult one way altogether based on my previous experiences).

OTOH with traffic down perhaps that means an easier breeze through incoming procedures! Send the excess to MEL - at least that is a sure-fire decent airport (although getting to and from Tulla is a bit extortionate except for Skybus).

 

[JohnK]

I think International visitors are voting with their feet. Traffic is DOWN, and their first impressions less than stellar - they go back and talk.
Syd airport is shabby, and relativity greedy - resulting in sore feelings.

Does the state of the airport have anything to do with the destination? I say this because I have been to some ordinary airports around the world and I am sure there are other airports just as bad that I have not visited yet tourist numbers are not affected.

ATH airport is always described as ordinary yet tourists continue to visit the coiuntry in droves.
BKK airport is ordinary yet tourists continue to visit the country.
HKT airport is ordinary yet tourists continue to visit.
DPS airport I have not visited but if anything like CGK I would be worried yet tourstis continue to flock to Bali

I don't think it is the airport that is keeping tourists away. There are a number of factors involved like the global economic crisis, our isolation and the quality of what is on offer for the tourist.

Why would someone from Europe visit Australia when USA, Canada and the rest of Europe has much more to offer are closer and cheaper?

Why would Americans visit Australia when Europe has a whole lot more to offer is closer and cheaper?

 

[anat0l]

An ordinary or even shabby airport is probably not enough to dissuade anyone from entering a country, except those that seed a fundamental hatred.

If anything, our airport appearance may not scare people away - it's more likely customs and Quarantine will.

I guess the point at hand is people still complain about things they know they can't change, won't change or can't be bothered of change (i.e. nothing will happen but no one cares). SYD isn't a great airport, but even if nil happens, nothing dramatic isn't going to happen.

I do agree that there are some pretty ordinary airports out there in popular tourist destinations! I think I read a FT thread where people were having a go at CDG... (as well as AF...)

 

[Dave Noble]

I think International visitors are voting with their feet. Traffic is DOWN, and their first impressions less than stellar - they go back and talk.
Syd airport is shabby, and relativity greedy - resulting in sore feelings.

It takes a while for bad rap to happen, and while SACL may make good, the overall pie shrinks.

The train fare is a joke. Keeping it sky-high just crystallizes negative impressions, along with $4 trolley and 7 buck parking. Too bad I've discovered the bus - no gravy when I go. And my 600ml water bottle seem to escape security most times.

None of these would , imo, affect people arriving into Australia

(1) Luggage trolleys are free in International Arrivals
(2) The person arriving is not going to have been parking a car
(3) There is nothing at all shabby about the state of the International Arrivals area

On top of that , ime, the Customs/Immigration staff are polite and civil unlike some other places

Traffic being down is not, I believe, likely to be anything to do with the state of 1st impressions on arrival

Dave

 

[dajop]

In Sydney's case I agree that the state of the airport would not dissuade visitors. Also it is common for trains to have extortionate rates to/from airports, and people don't mind paying that (although what is not common is for those extortionate rates to be charged for regular suburban commuter trains sometimes in carriages that would have to be 30-40 years old, usually if travelling on commuter trains, eg LHR, ORD, SFO, SIN, you pretty much pay commuter prices - BNE being another exception).

However I think there are some airports that do dissuade tourism, one of them I suspect being MNL (my favourite airport ... not ..) I have heard people say to not bother going to Philippines as it's all too difficult at the airport (even though amazing places lie at the other end such as Boracay & the Visayas).

 

[Dave Noble]

However I think there are some airports that do dissuade tourism, one of them I suspect being MNL (my favourite airport ... not ..) I have heard people say to not bother going to Philippines as it's all too difficult at the airport (even though amazing places lie at the other end such as Boracay & the Visayas).

I found MNL one of the quickest and most efficient airports I have been to . Not the most plush, but from disembarking until getting into the car to hotel was 20 minutes including collecting luggage

Dave

 

[jgm]

None of these would , imo, affect people arriving into Australia

Traffic being down is not, I believe, likely to be anything to do with the state of 1st impressions on arrival

Dave

It's more likely due to people departing Australia. I & many other non Sydneysiders avoid SYD like the plague.