This got me curious so I started looking for information, but nothing I could find except
here in this Wikki article.
No mention of the connection- from what this article says, perhaps a co-incidence? Because it says that they ended up having to extend a couple of runways much later when it was built.
I don't know anything about this stuff, so I watch here with interest what you guys come up with.
Quote:
Modern history
http://bits.wikimedia.org/static-1.2...gnify-clip.png
KLM DC8 at Gate 2 International Terminal in 1972
By the 1960s the need for a new international terminal had become apparent, and work commenced in late 1966. The new terminal was officially opened on 3 May 1970, by Queen Elizabeth II. The first Boeing 747 "Jumbo Jet" to serve the airport, Pan American's Clipper Flying Cloud (N734PA), arrived on 4 October 1970. In the 1970s the north-south runway was expanded to become one of the longest runways in the southern hemisphere. The international terminal was expanded in 1992 and has undergone several refurbishments since then.
The limitations of having only two runways that crossed each other had become apparent and various governments grappled with Sydney's airport capacity for decades. Eventually, the controversial decision to build a third runway was made. The third runway was built parallel to the existing runway 16/34, entirely on reclaimed land from Botany Bay. A proposed new airport on the outskirts of Sydney was shelved in 2004, before being reexamined in 2009-2012 showing that Kingsford Smith airport will not be able to cope by 2030
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