Sydney Airport Research Articles

Whingeing at work.

A FORMER Australian colleague told me a joke recently: 'How can you tell when a plane load of poms has landed at Sydney airport? When they turn the engines off, the whining noise carries on.'

Privatisation and ‘Light-Handed’ Regulation: Sydney Airport

AbstractThis paper examines the privatisation of Sydney Airport and the regime of ‘light-handed’ monitoring of service quality and airport charges that followed the sale in 2002. The arguments for privatisation are reviewed, in particular the need for increased competition and/or appropriate regulation where a former public monopoly, such as Sydney Airport, is sold. The aftermath of the privatisation of the airport has led to complaints by the major airlines and consumers of ever increasing charges for use of the airfield and for car parking and other services. This highlights that the ‘light-handed’ monitoring regime has not constrained the airport’s ability to charge monopoly rents. The aftermath of privatisation has resulted in labour shedding, outsourcing and a focus on cost minimisation by the airport’s management.

Self‐Reported Symptoms of Infection Among Travelers Departing From Sydney and Bangkok Airports

Data on the burden of illness in travelers departing from both developing and developed countries within the Asia-Pacific region is scarce. We conducted a survey to assess symptoms of infection among travelers within the region. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to travelers departing Sydney airport, Australia, for destinations in Asia and departing Bangkok Airport, Thailand, for Australian destinations during the respective winter months of 2007. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was developed to ensure representativeness and a weighting was applied to the Sydney sample. Travelers were assessed for symptoms of infection (fever, sore throat, diarrhea, rash, and myalgia), travel activities, and social contact in the 2 weeks prior to departure. A total of 843 surveys was included in the final sample (Sydney 729, response rate 56%; Bangkok 114, response rate 60%). Overall, 45.6% of respondents were Australian residents and 26.7% were residents of countries in Asia. At least one symptom of infection was reported by 23.8% of respondents and 5.4% reported two or more symptoms of infection in the 2 weeks prior to departure. The proportion reporting symptoms was higher in those departing Bangkok compared to Sydney. Significant risk factors for the reporting of symptoms differed between residents and visitors departing each study site. Activities resulting in high rates of social contact prior to travel, particularly contact with febrile persons, were found to be independent predictors of reported symptoms. Self-reported symptoms of infection were common in our sample of travelers. Infectious diseases in travelers can result in spread across international borders and may be associated with the frequency of social contacts and reported illness among travelers.

Is There ‘Value for Money’ in Transportation PPP’S? The Case of Macquarie and Sydney International Airport

This paper examines the link between value creation and transportation provision by conducting an examination of some of the projects financed and managed by Macquarie Bank, perhaps the worldwide leader in private infrastructure finance. Macquarie, an Australian firm, uses an infrastructure investment model that has been the subject of much imitation. The firm has been especially aggressive in expanding its operations into the United States, its latest acquisition being the Chicago Skyway. But in its home turf, where it has been operating the longest, its operations have increasingly become the subject of controversy. This controversy has not been just around policy, but also around finances, i.e., whether the Macquarie model really does create maximum value for both shareholders and transportation users. It is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of this model since it is being proposed for adoption in many places worldwide. This paper is divided into 7 sections. Section 1 contains this introduction. Section 2 briefly discusses the recent history of private participation in transportation provision in the US. Section 3 reviews Macquarie Bank’s growing involvement in that American private participation. Section 4 provides a framework for how privatization creates value. Section 5 summarizes the basic structure of the Macquarie infrastructure business model, while Section 6 analyzes the merits and demerits of that model by focusing on one of its key investments in its home country of Australia: Sydney airport. Section 7 draws policy conclusions and recommends steps for further research.

The Legislation We Had to Have?: The Crimes (Criminal Organisations Control) Act 2009 (NSW)

In the wake of several high-profile incidents of outlaw ‘bikie’ gang-related violence, including a fatal bashing at Sydney Airport, the New South Wales Government has introduced new laws to expand police powers relating to ‘criminal organisations’, membership, and association. This comment provides a critical overview and analysis of the Crimes (Criminal Organisations Control) Act 2009 (NSW) (the Act), with reference to recent related legislation in other States and at federal level. The Act contains a number of problematic aspects, as it creates what are in effect status offences and makes compromises regarding conventional rules of procedure, proof and evidence. This Comment argues that the Act must be understood in the broad context of penal popularism and that it is symptomatic of the dominance of ‘law and order’ politics in NSW. Revealing a clear debt to anti-terrorism legislation, an emphasis on risk and prevention, and the curtailment of individual rights in the larger interests of security, the Act is an unfortunate if not unexpected step in the ongoing process of criminal law reform in NSW.

Australia's approach to airport charges: The Sydney Airport experience

Australia has been progressive by world standards in its programme of airport privatisation and the adoption of a ‘light-handed’ regime of airport regulation. This paper discusses Sydney Airport's experience in negotiating commercial pricing agreements with airlines in the context of the light-handed regime and the Australian infrastructure access arrangements. It concludes that contractual relationships in an environment of informal regulation are able to provide sound, and arguably superior, outcomes to formal price regulation.

PC4 laboratory construction: a users’ point of view

The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games was a tremendous event for Australia, bringing the world?s best athletes and thousands of visitors to Sydney. As it was a global event with comprehensive media coverage, it also bought to our shores the possibility of terrorist activity. During the period the games were held, the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (CIDM) performed laboratory investigations of suspicious substances found at Olympic Games venues and Sydney airport and worked with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) testing air samples, taken at venues, for the presence of bioterrorism agents.

Correlations Between Earth’s Magnetic Field and Climate: The Use of Continuous Wavelet Transforms

Recently there have been suggestions that changes in the earth?s magnetic field may influence climate on millennial, centennial and decadal scales. Continuous wavelet transforms are used to compare time series of geomagnetic and climatic variables. Continuous wavelet transforms resolve a time series into its time and frequency components, meaning temporal variation in signal power at a particular frequency can be detected. This allows both continuous and intermittent periodic correlations to be found. Continuous geomagnetic field monitoring in Australia began in 1840 at the Rossbank observatory. Since then the observatory has been re-located to Melbourne, Toolangi and finally Canberra, with all data corrected to the Canberra observatory reference. In this study monthly mean geomagnetic data for the period 1949-2006 were compared using wavelet transforms with temperature and rainfall data recorded at Canberra Airport and cloud data from Sydney Airport. Sunspot number data were also compared. Wavelet analysis shows peaks in geomagnetic power at annual, 9-14 year and 45 year periods. Temperature, rainfall and cloudiness results show high power annually, at 2-5 years and at 10-15 years. Cloud and magnetic data both show a spike in annual power at 1990. Sunspot power is dominant at 11 years. Annual variations are seasonal, while 9-15 year variations appear to be related to the 11 year sunspot cycle. The link between magnetic field variations and sunspot activity is well established. Current research suggests that solar activity may also affect climate, perhaps modulated by the Earth?s magnetic field. Other correlations are not currently explained and do not necessarily imply causality. Wavelet analysis has shown potential for further research into geomagnetic-climatic relationships.

Aircraft noise exposure and resident's stress and hypertension: A public health perspective for airport environmental management

Noise management regulations and policies at commercial airports are reviewed. A cross-sectional study of environmental noise and community health based, on the SF-36, was conducted in residential neighborhoods near Sydney Airport with high exposure to aircraft noise and in a matched control suburb unaffected by aircraft noise. Noise measurements were analysed and a novel noise metric formulated based on background environmental noise levels. After controlling for confounders, subjects who have been chronically exposed to high aircraft noise level are more likely to report stress and hypertension compared with those not exposed to aircraft noise. Policy implications and further research are described.

Application of Artificial Neural Network Forecasts to Predict Fog at Canberra International Airport

Abstract The occurrence of fog can significantly impact air transport operations, and plays an important role in aviation safety. The economic value of aviation forecasts for Sydney Airport alone in 1993 was estimated at $6.8 million (Australian dollars) for Quantas Airways. The prediction of fog remains difficult despite improvements in numerical weather prediction guidance and models of the fog phenomenon. This paper assesses the ability of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to provide accurate forecasts of such events at Canberra International Airport (YSCB). Unlike conventional statistical techniques, ANNs are well suited to problems involving complex nonlinear interactions and therefore have potential in application to fog prediction. A 44-yr database of standard meteorological observations obtained from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology was used to develop, train, test, and validate ANNs designed to predict fog occurrence. Fog forecasting aids were developed for 3-, 6-, 12-, and 18-h lead times from 0600 local standard time. The forecasting skill of various ANN architectures was assessed through analysis of relative operating characteristic curves. Results indicate that ANNs are able to offer good discrimination ability at all four lead times. The results were robust to error perturbation for various input parameters. It is recommended that such models be included when preparing forecasts for YSCB, and that the technique should be extended in its application to cover other similarly fog-prone aviation locations.

A model for adaptive rescheduling of flights in emergencies (MARFE)

Disruptions to commercial airline schedules are frequent and can inflict significant costs. In this paper we continue a line of research initiated by Vranas, Bertsimas and Odoni [15,16], that aims to develop techniques facilitating rapid return to normal operations whenever disruptions occur. Ground Holding is a technique that has been successfully employed to combat disruptions at North American airports. However, this alone is insufficient to cope with the problem. We develop an adaptive optimization model that allows the implementation of other tactics, such as flight cancellations, airborne holding and diversions. While the approach is generic, our model incorporates features of Sydney airport in Australia, such as a night curfew from 11:00pm to 6:00am. For an actual day when there was a significant capacity drop, we demonstrate that our model clearly outperforms the actions that were initiated by the air traffic controllers at Sydney.

On the Motivations of Business Travel: Evidence from an Australian Survey

This paper presents the results of a survey of international business travelers to and from Australia carried out at Sydney Airport in May 2003 to understand the motivations underlying business travel. Data gathered from a sample of 210 business travelers indicate that knowledge sharing is a very common motivation to undertake a business trip while boosting sales is the least common. Business trips emerge as a mechanism to access, develop and transfer knowledge internationally, and possibly affect a country's ability to innovate.

Implementation of a Secure Wireless Communication Technology in a Highly Mobile Organisation: Challenges and Issues

Wireless Technology is growing at an alarming rate with increased security being the main challenge for developers and end users. This study presents after tackling initial challenges and issues faced during the implementation of wireless technology, how security issues and wireless application were implemented at Sydney Airport --- a highly mobile organization. The decision to deploy and manage the wireless spectrum throughout the Airport campus meant the wireless LAN will be a shared medium with public users, tenants and aircraft communications, sharing the same available bandwidth. Therefore to protect unintended users from breach of existing security policies adopted by their corporate network a comprehensive security solution needed to be established. This study focuses on how Sydney Airport undertook the WLAN architecture and security challenges of implementing a common use wireless infrastructure. Authentication and data privacy challenges are also presented. The complete WLAN connectivity for tenants, public and corporate usage is presented.

Sydney Airport Land: Appropriate Value for Regulatory Purposes

Sydney Airport Land: Appropriate Value for Regulatory Purposes

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and boarder protection: A report of the Sydney airport experience

In early 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) became an international globe-travelling virus; it began this frequent flyer journey from mainland China, and travelled to 30 countries across the world. By the end of its worldwide journey it had killed over 800 people and infected over 8000. As part of Australia's response to contain the virus, screening of all arriving international passengers was introduced throughout all of Australia's international airports. This article is a reflection on the experiences that five infection control practitioners (ICPs) had with implementing and conducting this service at Sydney's Mascot International Airport.

Airport Technology, Travel, and Consumption

This essay speculates on the changing forms through which “traveler’s space” is materially constituted within the fabric of everyday life. The author first provides a history of traveler’s space as a non-place, via the writings of Le Corbusier, Boorstin, and Augé. Second, through an examination of the recent public work of celebrity architects such as Norman Foster, the author suggests that rather than displaying a tendency to an overarching “supermodernity” dictating flow and movement, contemporary technospaces work toward a new experience of waiting as pleasurable. This hybrid and remixed modernity invites a different kind of engagement between technology and travel that affects our ways of being in place. Finally, in a case study of the recent renovation of Sydney Airport, the author draws some distinctions between the scales of travel (local, regional, global), which affect such spatial performances.

Environmental impact assessment including indirect effects—a case study using input–output analysis

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a process covered by several international standards, dictating that as many environmental aspects as possible should be identified in a project appraisal. While the ISO 14011 standard stipulates a broad-ranging study, off-site, indirect impacts are not specifically required for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The reasons for this may relate to the perceived difficulty of measuring off-site impacts, or the assumption that these are a relatively insignificant component of the total impact. In this work, we describe a method that uses input–output analysis to calculate the indirect effects of a development proposal in terms of several indicator variables. The results of our case study of a Second Sydney Airport show that the total impacts are considerably higher than the on-site impacts for the indicators land disturbance, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, emissions of NO x and SO 2, and employment. We conclude that employing input–output analysis enhances conventional EIA, as it allows for national and international effects to be taken into account in the decision-making process.

Arrivals and Arrivals: Royal Travel at Botany Bay

This article looks at how the sites of the beach and the airport have functioned as chronotopes of 'arrivalism' in Australian history. I suggest that narratives surrounding Queen Elizabeth's 1970 royal tour of Australia, initiated and terminated at Sydney Airport, drew on existing structures of primitivism and modernity at the site of the beach. A re-enactment of Cook's landing at Botany Bay on Australia Day 1970 thus re-inscribed the nation within global space: it showed aboriginal people bearing witness to the (re-)arrival of the colonists. This narrative of national progress linked the British colonial project and Australian economic development — just as Cook 'discovered' Australia, the Queen's flight 'discovered' anew the international space of air travel and trade. A second re-enactment by trade unions and environmental protestors nearby on Australia Day 1976 contested this narrative, and offered an alternative nationalist vision at the site of the beach.

Sydney Airport under scrutiny…

Sydney Airport under scrutiny…

Acute symptomatic pulmonary embolism associated with long haul air travel to Sydney.

The association between air travel and pulmonary embolism (PE) is recognized, but the absolute risk has not been quantified. Due to its geographical isolation, more than 50% of international travelers arrive at Sydney airport after a flight of'at least 9 hours. Patients who become acutely unwell upon disembarkation are taken to one of two hospitals. In this study we reviewed the presentations at these two hospitals. A retrospective analysis of all patients presenting to the emergency departments (ED) directly from Sydney International Airport with symptomatic PE over a three-year period was undertaken. Over 36 months, 17 patients were admitted from Sydney International Airport to the ED with acute PE. All patients had flown for at least 9 hours. Seven patients had risk factors for thromboambolic disease. During the period of our review 6.58 million passengers arrived in Sydney on flights of at least 9 hours in duration, representing an incidence of 2.57 per million. In conclusion, the incidence of acutely symptomatic PE in association with long distance air travel is low and the majority of patients survive following hospital presentation.