Our Review of Sydney Airport

Our Review of Sydney Airport

At Plan Your Trips, we have analyzed hundreds of airports around the world, gaining a clear understanding of what users expect when visiting an airport. With this know-how, we have created this guide, placing passengers at the forefront of everything, aiming to simplify and enhance the airport experience.

In this guide, our goal is to present information in a manner that is both quick and reliable. Recognizing that passengers often have limited time and may be in a hurry, we strive to ensure that they do not waste time unnecessarily.

Another key focus of our guide is to highlight the strengths of the airport and also the weaknesses, and in some cases, offer recommendations to travelers. In alignment with this approach, we provide users with aggregated information on delays and on-time performance, analyzing both airlines and individual flights.

Pros and Cons of Sydney Airport

PROS

Location: Sydney Airport is located about 8 km (5 miles) south of Sydney city center. It serves as a primary gateway to Australia and offers various transportation options, including trains, buses, and taxis.

Important Hub in Australia: Sydney Airport is a hub for Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia. Also, it is a focus city for Air New Zealand, QantasLink and Rex Airlines.

Modern Facilities: With world-class features and comprehensive terminals, the airport has numerous shops, restaurants, lounges and other facilities to accommodate and serve passengers of domestic as well as international flights.

International Connectivity: Today Australia’s Sydney Airport is connected with many world destinations as it is one of the main international airports in the country where passengers can find many direct flights available. Offering flights to major cities in Asia, Europe, North America, other continents, it can be regarded as an important strategic hub for all the world’s travelers.

Efficiency: Currently, the airport is regarded as one of the most efficient and functional airports with unique problem-solving check-in rules and baggage and security measures. The staff plays a key role in helping passengers and this is a key factor towards the smooth running of the travel services.

Accessibility: Sydney airport is well located and well-connected to the city centre and other parts of the city and its various models of transportation include railway through airport link train service, buses, taxis and online ride- hailing or driving services.

 

CONS

Congestion and Crowding:  Sydney Airport can also be congested with many people at certain periods, especially during rush hour and hence many passengers may be forced to wait for long hours at check-in counters, security operations or immigration processes.

Terminal Layout: The terminals in airport are not connected; Both Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 are at a short walking distance (no longer than 7 minutes), while Terminal 1 is slightly far from them. Therefore, passengers traveling from one terminal to another have to travel through shuttle services or by foot.

Security Queues: It is well known that during peak hours, there are always long queues at Sydney Airport security points causing a delay.

Lack of Seating: Some of the areas at the airport, especially around gates and sofas where people wait, might lack enough seating space. This creates some discomfort to passengers especially during rush hours.

Mini-Guide of the Airport (2' Guide)

There are three terminals: Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3. Terminal 1 hosts international and some domestic flights. Terminal 2 is exclusively for domestic and regional flights. Terminal 3 hosts domestic flights and is the main hub of Qantas and QantasLink. Be aware of which terminal your flight departs from.

Transportation Options: The access to Sydney Airport is easy with the various transport facilities available. Getting to and from the airport is very simple and convenient where one can hire airport trains, buses, taxis, and even the ride-share services to get to the city center as well as the other areas of interest.

Check-In Areas: A check-in zone at Sydney airport can be found inside the main structure of every terminal. In Terminal 1, the organizing of check-in area to be pointed out on the second level of the airport. In the Terminal 2 and 3, the check in hall is located at the first level.

Shopping and Entertainment: The shopping malls and entertainment in Sydney Airport presents a good variety of services for the passengers. You can find stores selling luxury products, groceries and other local produce, and experience the local flavour with walls lined with art and music of local artists.

Lounges and Facilities: A number of lounges are available at Sydney Airport for passengers to use to while they wait for their flights, both at international and domestic terminals. Further, you will find fitness and spa center to refresh during the journey.

How we calculate On Time Performance

On various pages of our website, you will encounter a metric widely utilized in aviation and other forms of transportation known as OTP (On Time Performance). We believe that providing this metric assists passengers in planning their trips and exploring alternatives before purchasing their flight tickets.

We calculate the On Time Performance for all flights and airlines, when we have enough data to do so. In certain instances, it may not be feasible to accurately compute the On-Time Performance for a specific flight or airline due to inadequate or non-representative data, which could result in misleading conclusions.

Our calculation of On Time Performance and delay information solely relies on arrival times. This approach is chosen over calculating departure delays, as we consider arrival punctuality to be of primary concern to passengers.

The On Time Performance displayed on our website is calculated as follows:

• On Time: Flights that arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time, or earlier. In the absence of data for a specific flight, we assume the flight arrives on time, to avoid penalizing airlines for data unavailability.
• Moderate Delay: Flights that arrive with a delay of 15 to 30 minutes.
• Significant Delay: Flights that arrive with a delay of 30 to 60 minutes.
• Major Delay: Flights that arrive with a delay exceeding 60 minutes.
• Average Delay: The average delay is calculated by considering flights that arrive early as having a delay of 0 minutes. Early arrivals do not contribute to reducing the average delay calculation

Some Stats

Annual Passengers Evolution

Airlines with more flight operations (last 3 months)

Airlines with best on-time performance at Sydney Airport (last 3 months)

Routes with more flights from Sydney Airport (last month)