The hub would be an advanced manufacturing and aircraft maintenance facility and could help close the gaps in local aero-skills training and develop skills exports.
“The new second Sydney airport could be a dedicated centre for the development of advanced helicopter, business jet and GA [general aviation] design, manufacture, testing,” said the Manufacturing and Engineering Task Force Skills Survey 2013-14 Report.
“The airport was an ideal opportunity for integrating, from the early planning stages, the development of a state-of-the-art aviation and MRO [maintenance, repair and overhaul] hub, bringing together specialised services and advanced solutions; engine overhaul, aircraft reconfiguration, and linked to advanced manufacturers in a supply network.”
The reports said it could be argued that the contribution of a second Sydney Airport to regular public transport, freight, general aviation, aircraft maintenance, aviation training and advanced manufacturing would have a “ripple” effect on aviation productivity with a state-wide and national dimension.
It was possible to identify existing aviation businesses in Western and South-Western Sydney, which potentially could form the basis for a thriving aviation hub
The survey of manufacturing and engineering skills in South-Western Sydney found there were already 130 existing businesses in western and south-western Sydney that could potentially form the basis of “a thriving aviation hub’’.
They included eight general aviation operators performing maintenance and another eight mainly providing maintenance, parts procurement or specialist equipment manufacturing.
There were also 13 maintenance repair and overhaul organisations working across the aviation sectors, some of them providing specialist services such as engine builds and avionic upgrades as well as 19 organisations carrying out MRO operations in general aviation
They included Parramatta-based Coax Helicopters, which is developing a range of small coaxial rotations helicopters, and advanced carbon composite manufacturer Quickstep, based at Bankstown Airport, which is supplying components for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
And it was strategically located to enable an aerospace hub to function as a state-wide aerospace nexus for aviation businesses ranging from Nowra to Richmond.
This project was commissioned by the South West Sydney Manufacturing and Engineering Skills Taskforce, which was set up by the Parramatta-based Regional Development, Sydney to identify the skills and actions needed to help transform manufacturing and drive change.
