Why Qantas Is Spending Billions To Save Melbourne Airport - Against All Logic
AviaTales
7,331 views
Melbourne has no curfew. Sydney shuts down from 11pm to 6am. For thirty years that gap made Melbourne the only place on Australia's east coast Qantas could land a widebody at 5am. In twenty-four days, Western Sydney Airport opens — and ends the monopoly. Why Qantas just signed a fifteen-year deal to the airport it can't afford to lose.
10 Comments
@Rocket-hb6jh 2 days ago
Get up to date, Melbourne has passed Sydney as the largest city now and within ten years is forecast to have well on the way to double Sydney’s population with ten million plus, currently over 5M.
@VictorW-m7r 1 day ago
There are currently no flights directly between Melbourne and Johannesburg, this has been the case since Virgin ended B777 flights.
@gregquan5647 2 days ago
Sydney is no longer Australia's biggest city - Melbourne is. Do your research mate. Melton is included (as it should have always been) and therefore Melbourne has a slightly larger population.
@tacitdionysus3220 3 days ago
What could have been an interesting clip is spoiled by so many errors and missing key points. Some of these are:
- It claims that Melbourne is the only Australian airport that can land wide body aircraft late at night - It’s isn't - Night curfews are an exception, only Sydney Adelaide, Gold Coast and Essendon airports have curfews. Melbourne does not have a curfew, but neither do Brisbane and Perth, and both of them can handle wide body aircraft.
- The Sydney curfew is not as big a deal as it looks - Airports without curfews, such as Melbourne and Brisbane, have only few flights that arrive or depart between 2300 and 0600. That’s because most international flights arriving or departing Australia are at the end or beginning of a very long flight. Nobody wants to start or finish a flight at say 3 am. Airports that do a lot of very late night arrivals or departures are nearly always located roughly mid-way along major air routes; the sort of airports where aircraft stop for fuel, or where passengers transfer to another flight to get to their final destination - places like Singapore or middle eastern airports.
- Some night freight already operates from WSI. The gazetting of WSI airport for 24 hour operations on 1 Nov 2026 means all former exemptions to operate during the curfew at SYD are cancelled (apart from emergencies and their special cases). That means: -
(1) Freighters still using SYD airport during the curfew must cease, move to WSI or only run day freight flights from SYD. (Note: SYD will still have more freight uplift than WSI. Unlike at WSI most of it is not in specialised freighters, but in the under-floor holds of passenger aircraft flights during the day).
(2) Passenger flights that have exemptions to arrive as early as 5am at SYD (an hour earlier than the normal time the curfew ceases each day) will also lose that exemption. That exemption was granted to cover aircraft leaving earlier from Europe because it is on daylight saving during the northern hemisphere summer. Several flights used that exemption, but only a couple remain, including Qantas QF-2. Daylight saving in Europe finishes in Europe at the end of October, so those flights will again be arriving after 6 am in SYD, and will do so until daylight saving in Europe starts again. The timing of the opening up of Western Sydney Airport just happens to align with enabling the affected airlines to not have to change their schedules or land them at WSI. Qantas may need to switch some of its slot times for departures from London Heathrow around (some of which I leases to other operators) to arrive at an acceptable time, or transfer its arrival to WSI (very unlikely to do with it’s “:flagship” London to Sydney flight)
- Qantas (mainstream) has no current arrangements to fly at WSI. Qantas Group flights are either Jetstar or QantasLink. QantasLInk is made up of several (previously separate) airlines running mainly regional services under the Qantas Group banner. Nearly all of them are now fully owned subsidiaries of Qantas, but still operate under their separate certifications (AOCs). The exception is Alliance Airlines which wet leases aircraft and crews to both Virgin and QantasLink. They operate just under 80 aircraft; and it is they who are providing the flights for WSI. It is a separate company. (20% is owned by Qantas, but they were prevented from acquiring it fully by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in 2023).
- It claims that Melbourne is the only Australian airport that can land wide body aircraft late at night - It’s isn't - Night curfews are an exception, only Sydney Adelaide, Gold Coast and Essendon airports have curfews. Melbourne does not have a curfew, but neither do Brisbane and Perth, and both of them can handle wide body aircraft.
- The Sydney curfew is not as big a deal as it looks - Airports without curfews, such as Melbourne and Brisbane, have only few flights that arrive or depart between 2300 and 0600. That’s because most international flights arriving or departing Australia are at the end or beginning of a very long flight. Nobody wants to start or finish a flight at say 3 am. Airports that do a lot of very late night arrivals or departures are nearly always located roughly mid-way along major air routes; the sort of airports where aircraft stop for fuel, or where passengers transfer to another flight to get to their final destination - places like Singapore or middle eastern airports.
- Some night freight already operates from WSI. The gazetting of WSI airport for 24 hour operations on 1 Nov 2026 means all former exemptions to operate during the curfew at SYD are cancelled (apart from emergencies and their special cases). That means: -
(1) Freighters still using SYD airport during the curfew must cease, move to WSI or only run day freight flights from SYD. (Note: SYD will still have more freight uplift than WSI. Unlike at WSI most of it is not in specialised freighters, but in the under-floor holds of passenger aircraft flights during the day).
(2) Passenger flights that have exemptions to arrive as early as 5am at SYD (an hour earlier than the normal time the curfew ceases each day) will also lose that exemption. That exemption was granted to cover aircraft leaving earlier from Europe because it is on daylight saving during the northern hemisphere summer. Several flights used that exemption, but only a couple remain, including Qantas QF-2. Daylight saving in Europe finishes in Europe at the end of October, so those flights will again be arriving after 6 am in SYD, and will do so until daylight saving in Europe starts again. The timing of the opening up of Western Sydney Airport just happens to align with enabling the affected airlines to not have to change their schedules or land them at WSI. Qantas may need to switch some of its slot times for departures from London Heathrow around (some of which I leases to other operators) to arrive at an acceptable time, or transfer its arrival to WSI (very unlikely to do with it’s “:flagship” London to Sydney flight)
- Qantas (mainstream) has no current arrangements to fly at WSI. Qantas Group flights are either Jetstar or QantasLink. QantasLInk is made up of several (previously separate) airlines running mainly regional services under the Qantas Group banner. Nearly all of them are now fully owned subsidiaries of Qantas, but still operate under their separate certifications (AOCs). The exception is Alliance Airlines which wet leases aircraft and crews to both Virgin and QantasLink. They operate just under 80 aircraft; and it is they who are providing the flights for WSI. It is a separate company. (20% is owned by Qantas, but they were prevented from acquiring it fully by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in 2023).
@MXNSetting 3 days ago
Melbourne has had that 24/7 advantage for decades, and now Western Sydney is about to change the game.
@LeonardRobbins-h1f 2 days ago (edited)
WSI doesn't weaken Melbourne. It gives Sydney a second airport.
Melbourne's strength isn't a curfew advantage, it's a growing population, an expanding catchment and a single dominant international gateway. While Sydney's future growth will be shared between Kingsford Smith and WSI, Melbourne continues to concentrate almost all international, corporate and premium travel through one airport.
The Melbourne-Sydney corridor is already the world's sixth-busiest air route, carrying almost nine million seats annually. Looking ahead, it's also the most logical Australian high-speed rail corridor, meaning demand between the two cities is more likely to evolve than disappear. If HSR is eventually built, airlines may even partner with or invest in the service, as has occurred overseas.
Meanwhile, Melbourne is investing for growth through a third runway, Airport Rail and terminal expansion. Sydney, by contrast, faces broader geographic constraints and increasingly relies on a two-airport model to accommodate future demand.
Qantas isn't investing to save Melbourne. It's investing because Melbourne is one of Australia's most valuable aviation markets. WSI solves Sydney's capacity problem. Melbourne's future will be driven by population growth, a larger catchment and continued investment in its single major gateway.
Melbourne's strength isn't a curfew advantage, it's a growing population, an expanding catchment and a single dominant international gateway. While Sydney's future growth will be shared between Kingsford Smith and WSI, Melbourne continues to concentrate almost all international, corporate and premium travel through one airport.
The Melbourne-Sydney corridor is already the world's sixth-busiest air route, carrying almost nine million seats annually. Looking ahead, it's also the most logical Australian high-speed rail corridor, meaning demand between the two cities is more likely to evolve than disappear. If HSR is eventually built, airlines may even partner with or invest in the service, as has occurred overseas.
Meanwhile, Melbourne is investing for growth through a third runway, Airport Rail and terminal expansion. Sydney, by contrast, faces broader geographic constraints and increasingly relies on a two-airport model to accommodate future demand.
Qantas isn't investing to save Melbourne. It's investing because Melbourne is one of Australia's most valuable aviation markets. WSI solves Sydney's capacity problem. Melbourne's future will be driven by population growth, a larger catchment and continued investment in its single major gateway.
@SG30001 1 day ago
Another AI slop video. Don’t bother watching it. YouTube should mandate a tag for these so we can filter out slop video content.
@kierannelson2581 3 days ago
0:30 this is incorrect. Brisbane does not have a curfew and is a major city that can accommodate the A380
Why Qantas Is Spending Billions To Save Melbourne Airport - Against All Logic
AviaTales
7,331 views
Melbourne has no curfew. Sydney shuts down from 11pm to 6am. For thirty years that gap made Melbourne the only place on Australia's east coast Qantas could land a widebody at 5am. In twenty-four days, Western Sydney Airport opens — and ends the monopoly. Why Qantas just signed a fifteen-year deal to the airport it can't afford to lose.