Western Sydney Airport (WSI) Discussion

[AustraliaPoochie]

They havent done or have they done the train line.
Aye, no tower in sight will be an interesting one, if flight pilot and 2ic rely on tower at the main KSA airport.

 

[moa999]

Runway only competed last week, and no aircraft has landed on it yet.

Sydney’s second airport is nearly built. But will the airlines and people come?

Victoria’s Avalon has struggled to take wing, but some project Sydney’s new 24-hour, high-tech airport will one day match Heathrow for passenger numbers

www.theguardian.com

But still a lot of interior work to go, including baggage system and lots and lots of testing.

Plus the approach roads are still very much under construction.
The Metro connection is now expected to be up to 12 months behind the airport opening, so it will be buses only for public transport to start with.

 

[Major]

Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche

On 10 December 2020, a light aircraft made an emergency landing on earthworks at the construction site, which was the airport's first arrival. The first official arrival at the airport took place on 2 October 2024, being a Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche registered as VH-8MN.

 

[elanshin]

Drove past WSI and was surprised on how complete it looks. What's the major infrastructure that's left to do - just the terminal? Are testing flights already starting? I imagine the new "tower-less" ATC system will need some amount of testing.

I believe they will start testing flights soon. Theres a lot of interior that still needs to be completed and then tested. As I understand it, they want to use the facial recognition system for immigration which would be Australia first so that will all go through rigorous testing as well.

Things like baggage systems and cargo systerms

Runway only competed last week, and no aircraft has landed on it yet.

Sydney’s second airport is nearly built. But will the airlines and people come?

Victoria’s Avalon has struggled to take wing, but some project Sydney’s new 24-hour, high-tech airport will one day match Heathrow for passenger numbers

www.theguardian.com

First official aicraft landing is already completed last October with the Piper PA-30

 

[ayebee]

This guy has been flying his drone over WSI for years - good record of the process and progress.

 

[Harrison_133]

Air New Zealand to fly to Western Sydney from mid-2027.

Source: Western Sydney International Take-Off Fund lands its first route

 

[moa999]

Albanese to cut ribbon today.

Lots of interior pics in this article.

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/first-pictures-reveal-stunning-western-sydney-international-airport/news-story/dddbb99668d1345a3a4a4d5277131df0?amp

 

[dairyfloss]

Albanese to cut ribbon today.

Lots of interior pics in this article.

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/first-pictures-reveal-stunning-western-sydney-international-airport/news-story/dddbb99668d1345a3a4a4d5277131df0?amp

Fixed an image for them

 

[elanshin]

Air New Zealand to fly to Western Sydney from mid-2027.

Source: Western Sydney International Take-Off Fund lands its first route

Just saw this on FB.

 

[kamchatsky]

I wonder the scheduling of this flight. Would NZ be taking advantage of the lack of curfew for overnight flight to AKL?

 

[moa999]

And a fly through video (threads link) I think showing Domestic check-in and bag drop, and security.

Sign for Premium Lounges (note plural mid-way).

Threads • Log in

Join Threads to share ideas, ask questions, post random thoughts, find your people and more. Log in with your Instagram.

www.threads.com

 

[SYD]

SMH headline mentioned “surprisingly small terminal”….

Inside Western Sydney Airport’s surprisingly small terminal

Resembling one of Sydney’s new metro stations, the newly finished terminal is a gleaming, ultra-modern monument to the many shades of brown.

www.smh.com.au

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

SMH headline mentioned “surprisingly small terminal”….

Inside Western Sydney Airport’s surprisingly small terminal

Resembling one of Sydney’s new metro stations, the newly finished terminal is a gleaming, ultra-modern monument to the many shades of brown.

www.smh.com.au

We should have built an oversized terminal to cater for future growth.

 

[HS-TQE]

Per the above provided (news.com.au) article. VA has still chosen to not sign on for WSI. The WSI CEO is hopeful for VA to sign on.

I wonder why VA is continuing to hold off? Are the potential vacated slots at SYD in 2026 more useful than starting WSI for VA?

 

[moa999]

wonder why VA is continuing to hold off

It's still a small secondary airport, and there are some real costs in opening a second operation.

Suspect some will be surprised at how quiet WSI starts.

 

[anat0l]

We should have built an oversized terminal to cater for future growth.

I can't read the paywalled article, but I wonder what would have motivated a small terminal in the first place, especially if this was supposed to rival SYD (Mascot).

Is there some spare land around the place that they could expand if they wanted to?

I wonder what is the strategy by any of the candidate carriers as to which services (if any) will be run from either Sydney airport. SYD/WSI transfers sound a bit funny. I suppose that's not intended to happen at all.

I wonder if SYD/WSI will resemble the story of some other classic airport pairs around the world, such as NRT/HND, GMP/ICN, SHA/PVG, BKK/DMK, KUL/SZB, DXB/DWC......

 

[moa999]

there some spare land around the place that they could expand if they wanted to?

10M pa is not a small terminal by Aus standards.

There is a massive amount of land and a multi-stage plan that takes the airport to 80M pax and two runways, but suspect few of us will see it.

On the story you've got to consider the overall plan for both airports. SYD is not aimed to be closed, nor are any flights (sans freight) aimed to be forcibly transferred. WSI is very much a smaller secondary airport planned to take freight ops and a western Sydney catchment area

 

[SeaWolf]

We should have built an oversized terminal to cater for future growth.

I think the use of "surprisingly small" is not really accurate. It's about the size of Adelaide airport.

 

[SYD]

We should have built an oversized terminal to cater for future growth.

The approved master plan has a staged growth to 82M. Includes a 2nd runway and further terminal expansion.

Airport site layout | Western Sydney International Airport

As we work with government and other stakeholders and evolve the design of Sydney's new airport, we periodically update the layout of Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport. The current approved airport site layout continues to serve as an indicative layout for master planning...

wsiairport.com.au

 

[kamchatsky]

I think the use of "surprisingly small" is not really accurate. It's about the size of Adelaide airport.

Which makes perfect sense for now. ADL is a decent size airport with OK flight frequencies. Once it gets full, they can then expand the terminal. That would be dependent on the number of international flights coming to WSI over next few years. It won't be many in the first few years.