The Airport Link Company (AirportLink Pty Ltd) is the operator of the Green Square,

Mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

Domestic Airport A domestic airport is an airport that handles only flights within the same country. Domestic airports do not have customs and immigration facilities and so cannot handle flights to or from a foreign airport. These airports often have short r ...

and

International Airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

railway stations on the Airport Link tunnel in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. The line is serviced by T8 Airport & South Line services of the

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the brand name and operator of Railways in Sydney, suburban and intercity train services in and around Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The metropolitan part of the network is a hybrid urban rail, urban-suburban r ...

network. The company has a 30 year

public private partnership In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichke ...

to operate the stations, running until 2030.

History

In July 1994, Australian investment company

Transfield Holdings Transfield Holdings is a privately owned Australian investment company with experience in industrial services, infrastructure, and renewable energy. History Transfield Holdings's origins can be traced to 1956 when an Italian-born immigrant ele ...

and French construction company

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French engineering group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the ...

formed the Airport Link Company, which signed a

(PPP) with the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

to build and operate Airport Link – an extension of the

network to

Sydney Airport Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport — colloquially Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney Airport or Mascot Airport — is an international airport serving Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district, in the subu ...

. As part of the agreement, Airport Link Company would construct the tunnels and the stations, before operating them over a period of 30 years – paying back the construction cost with a surcharge fare for passengers who use the stations.''The Opening of Sydney's New Southern Railway'', Transit Australia, Vol 55 no 7, July 2000. Construction began in February 1995, with the tunnel and the Airport Link stations opening on 21 May 2000. In 2001, the Airport Link Company was placed in receivership after defaulting on its finance arrangements, with patronage figures only one quarter of forecasted figures, exposing the government to costs of around . State Rail blamed "lower than expected patronage" and stated it was working with the company to increase it. In October 2005, the Government and the company signed a revised agreement on revenue and patronage, settling the latter's claims against the former. The Government paid to the company, with another due as

CityRail CityRail was a passenger railway brand operated by State Rail Authority, the State Rail Authority from 1989 to 2003 and by RailCorp from 2004 to 2013 with services in and around Sydney, Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle and Wollongong, the ...

earns revenue from Airport Line business. The Airport Link Company was put up for sale in early 2006, and was purchased by

Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, also known as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it acquired the Commerc ...

. In 2009, the business made a profit of which increased to in 2010. Sydney Domestic Airport Station8

In March 2011, it was announced that the Government of New South Wales would cover the cost of the station access fee at Green Square and Mascot stations, meaning that passengers no longer need to pay a surcharge to access these stations. To compensate Airport Link Company, the government now pays the company a 'shadow' station usage fee at a fixed contracted rate of approximately $2.08 per entry and exit of these stations. A fee remains in place for Domestic and International stations. Patronage on the link had been growing at 20% per year, but between March and June 2011 patronage increased by 70% as a result of the reduced fares. In 2013,

Universities Superannuation Scheme The Universities Superannuation Scheme is a pension scheme in the United Kingdom with £89.6 billion under management as of August 2021 (up from £67 billion in 2019). It has over 400,000 members, made up of active and retired academic and aca ...

(USS) bought 49.9% of Airport Link Company from Hastings Funds Management-managed

Essential Services Trust, adding to the stake it already owned. As a result, USS took control of the Airport Link Company. Although often perceived as all going to the Airport Link Company, under the revenue sharing agreement, from August 2014 85% of revenues raised by the access fee go to the State Government. From 2015 to 2018, the Government of New South Wales received the total net revenue amount of $197.6 million from the station access fee. The 30-year

public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sectors, private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Revie ...

will end on 20 May 2030, at which point the infrastructure will belong to the

NSW Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

References

External links

Airport Link website
{{Westpac Airport Link, Sydney Railway companies of New South Wales Westpac Railway companies established in 1995 Australian companies established in 1995 Companies based in Sydney