Design & construction travel Frictionless
Designed with the future of seamless travel in mind, Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport is scheduled to begin operation in 2026. Andrew Barnett speaks to Tom McCormack, the project’s chief technology offi cer, about the work under way to create a digitalised and sustainable 21st-century airport.
s Australia’s showcase city and commercial heart, Sydney is a place of constant flux as it grows bigger and busier. The world-famous ‘harbour city’ is home to one-fifth of the Australian population and was welcoming more than nine million tourists a year prior to Covid-19. Yet – until now – it has been reliant on one international airport. In one of the country’s largest and most expensive infrastructure projects, work is under way on a second major aviation hub, the Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport, located at Badgerys Creek, 60km west of the Sydney central business district (CBD).
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Site preparation, which started in 2018, represents one of the biggest earth moving challenges in Australian history, with around 26 million cubic
metres of earth making way for a single-runway airport and terminal. Work on the terminal began in November 2021, while runway construction will follow in 2022. The first international, domestic and air cargo flights are expected to take off in late 2026.
Competition arrives in Sydney Western Sydney Airport will relieve pressure on Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport, which has had a monopoly on international air traffic since 1970. The intention is to do more than just relieve pressure though – the new airport will also bring competition to the Sydney aviation sector. Tom McCormack, the project’s chief technology officer at Western Sydney Airport, says the newest addition to the local transport landscape will provide
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Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport
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