THE Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, has a blunt message for the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, in his opposition to a second airport in Sydney: ''He is wrong on this and we all know he is wrong on this.''
Raising the pressure on Mr O'Farrell to reverse his stance, Mr Joyce also dismissed the benefits of a high-speed train link connecting Sydney to Canberra Airport.
In some of his strongest comments on the vexed issue, Mr Joyce urged people to read a joint state-federal report, released earlier this year, because ''it does show the economic problems that will be created if we don't have a second Sydney airport''.
''Anybody that has a view of what's going to happen in any level of growth rate in Sydney knows the damage that it is going to cause, not only the NSW economy but the national economy, if we don't address this problem,'' he said in Canberra yesterday.
''We need a second Sydney airport - we don't need another airport in NSW. There's no point building fast-train links to places like Canberra and assuming that is going to fix the problem.''
The joint state-federal report has called for planning on a second airport to begin immediately, and named Badgerys Creek as the preferred site and Wilton, south-west of Sydney, as an alternative.
Mr O'Farrell has ruled out supporting a second airport and favours using Canberra Airport by connecting it to Sydney with a high-speed train line.
But Mr Joyce said: ''I don't think even Michael O'Leary from Ryanair would have had the gall to claim Canberra was the second Sydney airport - he makes outrageous calls on airports around the world.''
Qantas favours Badgerys Creek as the site for a second airport in Sydney.
Mr O'Farrell declined to respond to Mr Joyce's comments yesterday. A spokesman said: ''The Premier's view on this matter is well known.''
A week ago Mr O'Farrell's infrastructure body supported the calls for a second airport to serve western Sydney. In its project wish list for the next 20 years, Infrastructure NSW recommended that a site at Badgerys Creek, owned by the federal government, be preserved to meet longer-term aviation needs.
It also urged the state and federal governments to conduct a strategic planning review of the RAAF base at Richmond, to determine how the site could be used for commercial flights from late next decade.
The federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, said the aviation industry knew Sydney needed a second airport.
''It's time Barry O'Farrell got on board,'' he said.
