Sydney Airport - How long to get from Blu Emu car park to the International terminal?

Question

Got an international flight taking off from Sydney Airport and trying to arrange for parking near the airport.

Their budget car park seems to be Blu Emu and it's a little further away but it's a lot cheaper especially for long term.

The Sydney Airport FAQ specifies it is possible to use Blu Emu for international flights, the shuttle bus just doesn't go to the International terminal and i would need to catch an additional transfer from domestic to international (https://www.sydneyairport.com.au/info-sheet/parking-faq#self-park-sydney-airport-blu-emu-international)

Has anyone done this and knows how much additional time I need to factor in to go from Blu Emu to the international terminal?

Answer 1

There are supposed to be buses every 10 minutes from Blu Emu to the domestic terminal, and the journey takes 10 minutes. However, these buses run on public roads which can be jammed (particularly the M5 motorway); sometimes the buses are too packed to get on; and the real-life interval between buses can be anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes.

Once at the domestic terminal, the free T-Bus takes 10-15 minutes and runs every 10 min or so (although I can't find a published schedule). This goes through the airport grounds so jams are not a risk. As an alternative, the train is slightly faster (~5 min) but also costs around $6, plus you need to fiddle around with tickets etc.

So all in, I would allow at least one hour to get from Blu Emu to the international terminal, and around morning/evening rush hour you'd be wise to allow a bit of extra buffer on top.

Answer 2

I've parked at Blu Emu for an international flight and IIRC it took 50-70 minutes between actual travel time and waiting for buses, and jpatokal goes into good detail on the pros and cons of that.

Prebooking long term parking at the international terminal is another feasible and more convenient option if booking online (better rates are offered), and is sometimes competitive on price.

The best compromise I've found is a third party parking area as it works out both cheaper and more convenient for the international terminal, e.g. Park on King. I'm calling out that parking specifically because I know they have always been cheaper than Blu Emu when I've booked and they drop off directly at the international airport (see Q14).