A team of global aviation experts has arrived in Western Sydney as the city’s new 24-hour airport gets ready to kick off its operational readiness program to prepare for its first airline passengers.
The team from the Fraport Group – a German aviation company founded a century ago – joined Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport (WSI) this week where they’ll provide specialist support over the coming months to help ready the airport for commercial operations.
WSI Chief Operating Officer Matt Duffy said the airport was pleased to welcome the Fraport team to Western Sydney, with their arrival marking a major step-change for the business.
“There’s a buzz of excitement in the air as we progress important preparations for day one of passenger and airline operations and that’s where our colleagues from Fraport come in,” he said.
Mr Duffy said utilising Fraport’s global services reflected the significance of WSI’s development as the first greenfield international airport Australia has seen in more than 50 years.
“Fraport will lend their world-leading expertise to WSI as we commence our thorough program of operational readiness to ensure we’re ready and rearing to go next year,” he said.
“The program encompasses an enormous amount of work, but essentially means taking all the assets and systems that thousands of workers have spent the last 6 years designing, building and installing and ensuring each is equipped with the right processes, training, integrations and contingencies so we can be as prepared as possible when we welcome our first customers.
“This will include a series of live trials where we stress-test all of our systems to make sure they’re fit for purpose and our teams are trained up to support our airlines and passengers from day one.”
Fraport Project Director Alexander Larisch said opening a new airport is a highly complex task and Fraport Australia (a subsidiary of the Fraport Group) was delighted to arrive Down Under to support WSI as the business transitions to airport operations.
“Our onsite team will work with WSI on vital operational topics such as aligning operational processes and trials to achieve readiness for their opening in 2026. We’re excited to see what we can achieve together over the coming months,” he said.
