Sydney Airport will wait until 2016 to decide whether it wants to be the company that develops and operates the city's second airport.
Chief executive Kerrie Mather told the company's annual general meeting the federal government had indicated it would have a formal proposal on the planned airport in Sydney's west by the end of 2015.
A nine-month consultation period between Sydney Airport and government ends on June 30, after which the government will work on a proposal that sets out the terms for the development and operation of the airport.
After that, Ms Mather said Sydney Airport would have up to nine months to decide whether to go ahead with the project, though the company expects to have a decision early in 2016.
"On the basis of this timetable a decision would be required from Sydney Airport either four or nine months later, so some time in 2016," she said.
As part of the terms of its 2002 privatisation, ASX-listed Sydney Airport has first right of refusal to develop and operate a second major airport within 100 kilometres of the city's CBD.
Meanwhile, Ms Mather said the new operator of the airport's duty free operations, Heinemann, was accelerating its $60 million overhaul of the space.
The new design and fit out is expected to be completed before Christmas, rather than early 2016.
Chairman Max Moore-Wilton said the company's management were also continuing to press the state government and the owner's of the airport's railway stations to provide more "flexible" options for those arriving at the station by train.
Travellers using the train to get to and from the airport are charged a $12.60 station access fee on top of their normal fare.
Sydney Airport also announced it would pay shareholders a 12.5 cent dividend per stapled security for the six months to June 30 and confirmed its full year guidance distribution of 25 cents per security, which is up more than six per cent compared to last year.
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