Hub ready for passengers as early as July
“We’ve done a bunch of fake flights. And the art here is actually connecting people with their bags,” Duffy said.
“[It is] to truly pressure test the system. “We take these 1,800 bags and send them on multiple consecutive flights and make sure they get to all the destinations they need to go to.”
Staff tested the automated baggage system at Western Sydney Airport on Thursday.Credit: Sitthixay Dithavong
Duffy said trials on dozens of technology systems and assets in the coming months once construction is complete are about testing durability. “You have to expect the unexpected, which is when the rubber hits the road,” he said.
Under the scrutiny of air regulators, a Cessna Conquest pilot also conducted safety checks on the airport’s flight paths on Thursday to ensure approach procedures were safe and correct.
Federal Transport Minister Catherine King declined to give figures when asked how many airlines were expected to use the airport but said “the more the merrier.”
“The reality is, will it have exactly the same number of flights as Kingsford Smith on day one? No, it won’t. We don’t expect that to happen, but we’re certainly working pretty hard to get more airlines and more flights,” he said.
Bags are carried on a carousel in the Western Sydney Airport terminal.Credit: Sitthixay Dithavong
“We’re on track to open. This testing is actually a critical part of that.”
Qantas and budget subsidiary Jetstar have committed to: Based on 15 domestic aircraft Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand have signaled their intention to operate flights at the airport within a year of its opening.
But the curfew-free airport faces stiff competition from the existing Sydney Airport at Mascot, which is embarking on its biggest terminal expansion since Sydney hosted the Olympics in 2000.
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A NSW Rural Fire Service Boeing 737 air tanker first jet plane to land next Tuesday at Badgerys Creek. The firebomb 737 will be used to test a full-scale response to a simulated aircraft emergency.
Volunteers will serve as passengers in a major test of airport systems in March.
Although the new airport is ready for first flights next year, there is a risk that the 23-kilometre metro rail line connecting the new terminal to the commuter rail network in St Marys could open in December 2027, a year later than planned. A dispute with contractors also threatens to increase the cost of the railway line by 2.2 billion dollars.
