Airport Link Company


The Airport Link Company operates Green Square, Mascot, Domestic Airport and International Airport railway stations on the T8 Airport & South line of the Sydney Trains network in Sydney, Australia. These stations are located in the nine kilometre Airport line, which is 23 metres below the earth's surface. This tunnel links Sydney Airport with Central station and the Sydney central business district.
The tunnel and the Airport Line stations opened on 21 May 2000. The stations have seating which is a different design to the rest of the network-wide standard, with Street Furniture supplying the "Park Slim Bench"
In 2000, the Airport Link Company was placed in receivership after defaulting on its finance arrangements, with patronage figures only one quarter of forecasted figures.
In March 2011, it was announced that the State Government 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.
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 NSW Government received the total net revenue amount of $197.6 million from the station access fee.