The first part of the new international airport which is being constructed in Western Sydney is now complete as the countdown to next year’s opening continues.

And the airport’s government-owned operator has unveiled its vision for growth over the next two decades.

In an announcement issued last week, Australian Government owned owned company Western Sydney Airport Co Ltd (WSA Co) said that construction of the runway and other key airside facilities at the Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport is now officially complete.

As a result, the site now has a 3.7km runway that is equipped with approximately 3,000 aeronautical ground lights and 248 high intensity approach lights.

The runway will be ready to cater for a capacity of up to 10 million annual passengers when the airport opens next year.

Its completion came one day before the release of the airport’s Preliminary Draft Master Plan.

The plan is a strategic document that outlines how the airport will develop over the next two decades.

It covers airport growth forecasts, land use, airside development, terminals and aviation support, non-aviation development, ground transport, utilities development, airspace and airport safeguarding, environment and sustainability strategy and economic and social impacts.

Under the plan, the airport has been designed for staged growth with the ability to add capacity in a pre-arranged manner.

Upon opening next year, the airport will have capacity to meet a minimum demand of 10 million annual passengers.

It will have a single runway and associated airfield, terminal and associated aircraft stands, carparks, Metro Line and stations, car parking, a new road network, initial commercial developments and cargo terminals and aircraft stands.

As demand grows over the next twenty years, the airport will add new taxiways, aprons, terminals, cargo and support facilities and car parking as well as additional commercial development.

Ultimately, by 2063, the airport will have a second runway and capacity to cater for up to 82 million passengers annually.

(Unlike many airports which have cross runways, the new airport will have only a single runway upon opening.

A single runway is considered to be all that is needed as wind conditions at the site have been observed over decades to be largely predictable. This will enable aircraft to be able to land in most wind conditions (aircraft need to take off and land into the wind) without the need for a cross runway.

A second runway will be added in the 2050s to support growing demand and capacity requirements.)

The package of works to complete the runway and associated works was undertaken by a joint venture involving CPB Contractors and ACCIONA.

It was overseen by the airport’s delivery partner Bechtel, who is managing the delivery of packages for the airport in relation to earthworks, airside, terminal, landside and technology.

In addition to the runway and lighting, the package of works also included the design and construction of the taxiway pavements, aircrafts pavement markings, airside roads, surface water drainage, airside security fence and landscaping.

The runway has been equipped with modern technology and will have rapid exit taxiways. This will reduce average ‘taxing times’ (the time which an aircraft spends moving on the ground under their own power from the gate to liftoff or from touchtown to the gate during landing) to around five minutes. This is faster than many other airports internationally.

As part of runway certification, multiple take offs and landings were completed by a Piper PA-30 Twin Engine Comanche aircraft last October.

This ensured that the lighting and technology systems were operating effectively.

All up, delivery of the contract required 2.7 million work hours from thousands of workers over an eight-year construction period.

A large part of the construction period involved a massive volume of earthworks.

This was necessary in order to flatten the site – which sits at around 1,780 hectares in size (twice the area of Sydney (Kingsford -Smith) Airport and had a difference between the highest and lowest points that was equivalent to a twelve-story building.

WSI Co CEO Simon Hickey welcomed the completion of the works.

“The work to build our runway and supporting airside 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.

CPB Contractors Project Director Christian Byrne said the CPB Contractors/ACCIONA Joint Venture team is proud to have been a part of the 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.”

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