New Western Sydney Airport is open but let down by inadequate surface connections and fuel supply

The freshly opened Western Sydney Nancy-Bird Walton International Airport (WSI) has been almost six decades in the planning and execution, long enough to see the need for a rail link to and from central Sydney. But one is not yet built, leaving passengers (and airlines) with the idea implanted in the mind that WSI is just a local airport for sun-seeking vacationers.

Moreover, in the absence of a dedicated pipeline it is dependent on trucked aviation fuel, leaving it open to disruptions that can afflict surface transportation.

Those may count amongst the reasons why few airlines have yet committed to building an extensive network at WSI and why others aren't introducing services yet.

It is clear that another airport was needed for Sydney and it is assuredly in the right place. But without that rail link the Nancy-Bird Walton Airport will struggle to deliver the enormous potential economic and social benefits it - and Sydney - deserves.