Passenger opening for Sydney’s new international airport revealed

Sydney’s new international airport will open to passenger flights at the end of October, almost four months after the first cargo aircraft takes off from the $6 billion aviation hub on the western outskirts of the city.

The exact start date for passenger flights to Western Sydney International Airport (WSI) will be revealed when its launch airlines release their inaugural ticket sales within weeks. Qantas and budget offshoot Jetstar, Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand are confirmed partners.

Budget airlines are considered the most likely to put on flights to the new airport after it opens to passengers, fuelling speculation Jetstar’s presence there will force Virgin Australia to compete by launching flights.

Western Sydney Airport chief executive Simon Hickey revealed that it would open for passenger operations at the end of October, while its target date for freight operations was this July.

“So our launch airlines, which we’ve previously announced, is Qantas and Jetstar, for domestic operations [and] Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand for international operations,” he told a senate committee on Monday night.

Singapore Airlines will fly to the city state’s Changi Airport where it will link passengers to its extensive international network, while Air New Zealand will fly to Auckland.

Hickey said Jetstar and Qantas’ flights in and out of the new airport would be “more complex in terms of where they will be going”, and would be announced in due course by the airlines.

Qantas, which is fitting out cargo facilities, confirmed it would start flying its freighter aircraft in and out of the new airport in the middle of the year.

Virgin said it was “looking closely” at the opportunity in western Sydney and assessing a network and schedule that best served its customers.

Macquarie Group infrastructure analyst Ian Myles said Virgin would likely need to put on domestic flights to the new airport to counter Jetstar.

“Our expectation is that Jetstar will go and put a bunch of flights there,” he said. “Virgin needs to compete. If Virgin doesn’t go to WSI, it is going to lose market share. Qantas and Virgin probably have political pressure as well as anything else to be there.”

QantasLink is set to put on services to the government-owned airport, although Myles doubted its domestic flight schedule would be as extensive as Jetstar’s.

Myles said the outbound market – Australian holidaymakers going overseas – would initially be the focus for airlines considering international services from Western Sydney Airport, which raised the possibility of Jetstar putting on flights to destinations such as Bali.

Low-cost airlines such as AirAsia are considered the most likely to put on international flights to and from the new airport, while Chinese carriers whose passengers comprise large tour groups could be tempted.

However, Singapore Airlines’ low-cost offshoot Scoot has no immediate plans to operate from the new airport.

Singapore Airlines said its agreement with the new airport demonstrated its commitment to expanding travel options to and from Sydney, and strengthening its network connectivity in Australia.

“We are finalising our flight operations plans with WSI, and we will share more details at the appropriate time,” it said.

“WSI’s late-night departure capacity and advanced terminal features will enable seamless connections for our customers, linking them through Singapore Changi Airport to more than 120 destinations.”

Qantas said it was still in active discussions with the airport about a “range of possibilities” regarding the number of passenger aircraft and routes it would operate. “We’re on track to have freighters flying in and out of western Sydney from the middle of the year,” it said.

Air New Zealand has signalled its intent to start flights from the middle of next year.

The Kiwi flag carrier and Singapore Airlines have both been beneficiaries of a $16 million fund – backed by the state government – aimed at incentivising international airlines to fly to the new airport.

AirAsia said it continuously reviewed its network including across Australia, which remained an important market.

“Any network decisions we make are guided by where we see the strongest opportunities to benefit our customers, strengthen connectivity to our hubs and onward across our network,” it said. “We’ll share updates on network adjustments as and when decisions are finalised.”

With the airport’s opening fast approaching, advanced trials are due to start in April, which will involve testing how members of the public who pose as passengers react when they use facilities.

Sydney Airport has already fired a shot across its new competitor’s bows by embarking on plans to merge the T2 and T3 terminals at Mascot into a single precinct, resulting in 12 new gates for both domestic and international aircraft.

The privately operated airport forecasts a 75 per cent increase in passengers to 72 million annually by 2045. In comparison, Western Sydney Airport expects 8.4 million passengers a year by 2030, and 19.3 million by 2045.

Putting a dampener on the airport’s opening will be the late completion of a $12 billion metro train line linking the terminal to Sydney Trains’ network at St Marys. A dispute between contractors and the state government risks delaying the metro line’s opening until December 2027 – a year later than planned.

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