CONSTRUCTION of the first major piece of Sydney’s 24-hour airport is complete, with Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport’s (WSI) runway and other key air side facilities officially finalised as the countdown to opening continues.
WSI CEO Simon Hickey said this significant step demonstrated the rapid rate of progress as major construction continues to wrap-up to make way for testing and live trials across the airport precinct.
“The work to build our runway and supporting air side facilities has been years in the making – during which workers have literally moved mountains to create a modern, technology-enabled airfield that will soon welcome planes and passengers,” he said.
“Our runway will be equipped with modern technology and our rapid exit taxiways mean WSI’s average taxiing time will be around five minutes, significantly shorter compared to other airports around the world, which will get people home and away faster.”
Mr Hickey said there have been millions of work hours put into this critical piece of WSI’s infrastructure, with thousands of workers contributing toward the extensive construction project since the bulk earthworks contract was awarded in 2019.
“The site has been transformed to build our 3.7km runway, equipped with approximately 3,000 aeronautical ground lights and 348 high intensity approach lights, which will cater for up to 10 million annual passengers from day one of operations next year,” he said.
“Part of our runway certification also involved a Piper PA-30 Twin Engine Comanche aircraft successfully completing multiple take offs and landings on our runway in October last year, to ensure the lighting and technology systems were operating effectively.”
The CPB Contractors/ACCIONA Joint Venture led works on the Air side Civil and Pavement Works package (ACP), which was also overseen by WSI’s delivery partner, Bechtel.
Aside from WSI’s runway and lighting, the ACP package also involved the design and construction of the taxiway pavements, aircraft pavement markings, air side roads, surface water drainage, air side security fence and landscaping.
CPB Contractors Project Director Christian Byrne said the CPB Contractors/ACCIONA Joint Venture team is very proud to have been a part of this transformational project.
“Successful delivery of the ACP project required millions of tonnes of high quality, high strength, quarry materials to be sourced and imported into the site, then processed and placed in the aircraft pavement areas, to construct the aviation pavements to strict specifications, which took an enormous effort from a large team,” he said.
“The aircraft pavements were constructed with an excellent team culture and commitment to working safely, and we developed and delivered an Australian-first paving methodology of “true-slip forming” the concrete aircraft pavements – improving productivity and safety as well.”
WSI is on track to open for domestic, international and cargo services in late 2026. The airport is built for growth, with plans in place that will eventually see WSI become Sydney’s biggest international airport, handling more than 80 million annual passengers, which is akin to London’s Heathrow airport today.
