Tourism & Transport Forum Australia (TTF) stated (17-Feb-2017) the "continued cap on aircraft movements at Sydney Airport is fast becoming a cap on international visitor arrivals at Australia's largest gateway". TTF CEO Margy Osmond warned the constraints are "crippling" Sydney Airport's capability to receive more international services and build visitor numbers and urged restrictions, "must to be reviewed to enable the growth of our international visitor economy to continue". TTF urged the Australian Government to implement the following reforms:
- Increase hourly slot caps and movement caps from 80 to 90 aircraft per hour "to meet peak demand and prepare for growth not just in international traffic, but also domestic flights";
- Eliminate the measure restricting movements to 20 per 15 minutes "to enable much greater flexibility in aircraft movements within the legislated hourly caps";
- Align aircraft slot and movement rules at Sydney Airport with other developments such as airport terminal expansion, in readiness for expected increases in tourist arrivals. [more - original PR]