{"id":899741,"date":"2026-09-21T06:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T06:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899741\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T06:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T06:02:15","slug":"western-sydney-airport-what-trial-passengers-really-think-of-australias-newest-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899741\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Sydney Airport: What trial passengers really think of Australia\u2019s newest airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s newest airport<\/a> may not be officially taking off with customers<\/a> until October 25, but that doesn\u2019t mean \u201cpassengers\u201d aren\u2019t already putting the new terminal through its paces.<\/p>\n

Armed with fake boarding passes and pretend luggage, Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport<\/a> has been inviting locals and aviation enthusiasts to take part in a trial passenger program to help stress-test the new airport.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Western Sydney Airport will open for passenger flights next month.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

The trial program has been running every Tuesday and Thursday and will continue until mid-October, ahead of the airport\u2019s official opening on October 25, 2026.<\/p>\n

Members of the public\u00a0are trying everything from checking\u00a0in for their\u00a0flight, moving\u00a0through security screening,\u00a0and\u00a0using airport facilities.<\/p>\n

Two such pretend passengers said they enjoyed a \u201cseamless\u201d experience at the new airport recently.<\/p>\n

The Mulgoa locals were handed a pair of boarding passes and went about the terminal as if they were about to board a flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe general check in process, including security, was seamless,\u201d one told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter whether you are flying domestically or internationally, you drop your bags off at the same bag drop stations and go through the same security area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, that is one thing this airport does differently to many others \u2013 not separating international or domestic travellers until after they go through security.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Trial passengers have been testing the airport\u2019s operations.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

At the end of each day volunteers are able to provide feedback. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe terminal is amazing, and the surrounding areas well planned,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of obvious deficiencies were the lack of seating within the terminal and the absence of any travelators.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good to be able to provide feedback at the end of the trial and help them practice going live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another volunteer, Michael James, also raised concerns about a lack of both seating and signs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just a little lack of signage to direct you off the plane, and it is a long walk. We found the signage wasn\u2019t clear for your direction. There are no travelators on the international arrival side, which was a bit of a downside,\u201d he told the Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"inside<\/p>\n

Members of the public can volunteer as passengers.\u00a0Supplied\/Kristine Tarbert<\/p>\n

\u201cMy other concern was lack of seating on the arrivals area and lack of seating around the baggage carousel. It is also a small airport, maybe more like a regional airport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, trail passenger Kylie praised the design of the new airport, but did raise some heat concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved the layout, it\u2019s just a really beautifully built airport, from the timber panelling in the ceilings to the view of the mountains. Everything just flowed, it was a very calming airport,\u201d she told the paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of window and glass that faces west, and even on the winter day we went, it felt warm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some thought there was a lack of seating in the terminal but loved the overall design.\u00a0Brett Boardman<\/p>\n

WSI\u00a0Chief Operating Officer Matt Duffy\u00a0said\u00a0this final phase of WSI\u2019s operational\u00a0preparations had been underway since August and involved\u00a0hundreds of trial participants\u00a0taking part\u00a0each week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interest\u00a0from\u00a0volunteers within the community for the trials was overwhelming \u2013 thousands of trial slots were filled within days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Officers from the Australian Border Force (ABF) and Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishers (DAFF)\u00a0also take part in the trials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0aiming to make\u00a0these\u00a0various\u00a0elements to be as \u2018fail-safe\u2019 as they can be,\u201d Duffy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis\u00a0is\u00a0also\u00a0about giving\u00a0us as much experience as possible in navigating the inherently\u00a0dynamic\u00a0nature of\u00a0round-the-clock airport\u00a0operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jetstar completed the airport\u2019s first trail flight this month.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

A Jetstar A320 became the first trial passenger flight to touch down at WSI on September 1, landing at 9:30am from Melbourne.<\/p>\n

The airline will become the first airline to fly passengers from Western Sydney when flight JQ362 takes off for the Gold Coast at 11am on Sunday 25 October.<\/p>\n

Jetstar Chief Pilot Tyrone Simes\u00a0said flying the first service into a brand\u2011new airport is a once\u2011in\u2011a\u2011career moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia hasn\u2019t opened a major new airport like this in more than 50 years, so this morning was a genuinely exciting milestone for me and the team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The] flight was about getting to know the airport before we carry customers. Crew flew the arrival and departure exactly as they will in October, then worked through the ground side of the operation: the taxi route to the gate, lining up on the aerobridge, and the turnaround that gets the aircraft back out again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s newest airport may not be officially taking off with customers until October 25, but that doesn\u2019t mean…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-899741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}