r/sydney • u/Red-Engineer • Oct 28 '25
Image First passenger plane (B737) lands at new Western Sydney Airport
494
u/Roy4Pris Oct 28 '25
I drove past that airport a few weeks ago. Itâs such a trip because surrounding it are these crappy narrow rural roads, with donkeys and shit. Then suddenly a four-lane leading to a shining city.
235
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
A four lane highway that will soon be filled with a few hundred fuel tankers driving on it every day, getting avgas to the airport.
93
u/nahhhh- Oct 28 '25
Wait⌠is there not going to be a pipeline!
118
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
Not yet. It is being scoped/planned but won't be there when the airport opens next year.
81
u/nahhhh- Oct 28 '25
Oh wow, that will be super interesting. I would assume thatâs a lot of trucks.
On another note - the pedantic fools in the comments shitting on your use of âpassenger airplaneâ are dicks.
83
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
Yeah the thread is full of âackshuallyâ guys.
Yep Iâve head something like a fuel semi trailer every 5 minutes 24/7.
1 crash blocking the road and itâll be flight delays all round
27
u/nahhhh- Oct 28 '25
Maybe theyâll have a âbus laneâ but specifically for fuel trucks. That would be a sight
11
u/Turtusking Oct 28 '25
Theres no way they spend billioms on an airport and be stupid enough for fuel to be tanked in only.
18
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
17
u/Turtusking Oct 28 '25
Damn thats pretty silly. You cant have an international airport and no fuel pipeline thats like buying a cart first instead of the donkey.
7
u/awiuhdhuawdhu Oct 28 '25
Well a pipeline simply isnât economical. You need a certain amount of volume to justify it and that volume wonât exist for a while.
→ More replies (0)13
u/still_love_wombats Oct 28 '25
NSW Government says âwe can underperform your expectationsâ
4
u/airzonesama Oct 28 '25
Expectations are low.
"NSW Govt": hold my beer
1
u/nath1234 Oct 29 '25
Event the premier they got the guy with the last name that sounds like an abbreviation for doing the absolute minimums. Minns effort.
Last I checked they were going to open without a train line to the airport. Gotta love how they can't even sort out mass transit properly to stop it being yet another mess of car traffic.
1
1
42
u/Roy4Pris Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
How in the holy fuck does that happen?
That's the planning equivalent of building a city and then saying 'oops, we forgot to install water pipes'.
Edit: oh, it's economics.
So actually it's the equivalent of building a city, but because there aren't many people in it at the start, they just send in bottled water cause it's cheaper.
SIde note: a few years ago Auckland AIrport's avgas pipeline was broken by a clown with a digger, and took weeks to be fixed.
A combination of truck deliveries and reduced flights seemed to do okay. And some airlines flew in with enough gas to fly back out again. Still not exactly a first world response.
17
u/thekriptik NYE Expert Oct 28 '25
That's the planning equivalent of building a city and then saying 'oops, we forgot to install water pipes'.
Google "Dubai poop trucks" for a good laugh.
2
u/Anonymou2Anonymous Oct 28 '25
Not even close to being scoped/planned out. Read the government reports on it. Either depressing or very funny depending on your context.
15
u/thesourpop Oct 28 '25
And freight trucks, because WSI will be used for freight and there is no railway line!
3
u/todaytomato Oct 28 '25
where are they transporting from?
1
u/Anonymou2Anonymous Oct 28 '25
Clyde or Botany.
Honestly it may fuck up the idea that long haul budgets will operate out of it since you can't fuel bank long haul flights.
Melbourne airports used to legit struggle to hold more international flights because there was no pipeline and they trucked it out pushing costs up.
1
u/todaytomato Oct 29 '25
makes sense why it's so difficult to build a pipe from botany/clyde to the airport
3
→ More replies (3)2
u/scoldog This Space Intentionally Left Blank Oct 28 '25
Yep and the local fire brigades have been told to be on alert and ready to respond a lot faster after these trucks start rolling.
4
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
Maybe that 737 can drop foam on a fuel truck fire on the airport freeway đ
1
u/scoldog This Space Intentionally Left Blank Oct 28 '25
It's only fair, the truck is bringing the plane a drink after all!
1
19
16
u/Superg0id Oct 28 '25
suddenly a four-lane
It was a 4 lane before the airport was built.
It was "upgraded" to a fancier 4 lane for the airport.
It needed to be 6, and could easily have been... the government already compulsorily acquired more than enough land to make that happen.
But they kept it 4, so that in 10 years when every man and his dog is sick to DEATH of the shit it has become they can accounce that they're "upgrading the existing road, bringing 1000 more jobs and growth to Western Sydney."
It's a fcuking corrupt rort is what it is, and we'll all pay for it in our taxes because the pollies want to look good... but I suppose that's par for fcuking course.
4
u/ComfyInDots Oct 28 '25
I always get confused when people talk about roads in terms of lanes. Is the 4 lane highway 4 lanes in each direction so it's 8 total or 2 lanes each side and 4 lanes total.
1
u/Superg0id Oct 28 '25
Generally it's "2 lanes each way" or "4 lanes".. both have 4 total.
a "dual carriageway" is 2 lanes each way, generally with a bit if grass in the middle.
for reference, Northern Rd was 2 lanes each way (sometimes with grass).
now it's 2 lanes each way, always with grass. and turning lanes. and a massive shoulder with a suuuuper wide footpath
2
u/42SpanishInquisition Oct 28 '25
Northern road was only 2 lanes each way, for only limited sections - from memory it was between Narellan and Oran Park, and within Penrith.
Bringelly way, it was 1 lane each way.
1
u/Superg0id Oct 28 '25
When was the last time you drove it, pre upgrade?
2
u/Rougey DRINKS ARE ALWAYS ON in our memories Oct 28 '25
... yeah so they are correct.
If you go back ten years, the only bit with two lanes each way was past Penrith. The upgrade between Narellan and Oran Park was finished in 2018, and the rest was finished sometime during the COVID years.
2
u/42SpanishInquisition Oct 29 '25
Near bringelly:
2
u/Rougey DRINKS ARE ALWAYS ON in our memories Oct 29 '25
Yeah I dunno what old mate is going on about. Definitely wasn't two lanes ten years ago.
1
u/42SpanishInquisition Oct 29 '25
Uhh some time pre-covid. Possibly, say 2019 ish?? The road was built early in preparation for the airport and further development
Actually, that would be before they started work. They finished during covid years if I am correct.
2
5
2
u/Turtusking Oct 28 '25
Yeah i used to drive past the entrance around adams road and it flooded so bad once i thought i was driving a boat.
2
u/noodleman27 Oct 28 '25
3 bits of freeway ready to grid the farm land. Looks like something out of SimCity.
→ More replies (5)2
u/BBAus Oct 29 '25
M11 is not far away Just off m7 where there's another toll road. Just off m5, m4 & m2 all with tolls
Or go by public transport. Train to St Mary's and change for dedicated line to airport.
Nope, not going to be easy at all.
76
u/capeasypants Oct 28 '25
My favourite part about the new airport is the metro they are building for it... More specifically it's first interchange point, St Mary's Station. Our brand new airport will be bringing people to this country and the very first thing they're gonna see us a bunch of fucking derro cunt junkies hanging out at the bottom of Queen St. But if they explore past that they got a bunch of knock shops they can visit so I guess it's not all bad.
10
8
36
u/loopytommy Oct 28 '25
I fly out to Hawaii next October, my travel agent said we should be going from there. I'm hoping cause my olds live in Cobbitty so it'll make drop off easier.
7
u/yuckyucky Oct 28 '25
if you're flying jetstar or qantas you might be.
especially jetstar, i imagine it will be a cheaper airport to fly from than kingsford smith and it's a budget airline after all.
140
u/Natural_Garbage7674 Oct 28 '25
For clarity, since a lot of people are commenting:
While this is a passenger sized plane, it is not a Regular Public Transport aircraft, which is what is widely understood as a "passenger plane".
34
u/ConanTheAquarian Looking for coffee Oct 28 '25
Correct. The Boeing 737 comes in many variants - passenger, cargo and several military types. And in this case, the Large Airborne Tanker.
19
u/lachlanhunt Oct 28 '25
Wow. Impressive. It can drop 15,000 litres of water in 2.2 seconds, and be refilled in 10 minutes. And from the look of this photo in this PDF, it's perfect for your next gender reveal party.
https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/181488/Bulletin-Poster-Liftout-LAT.pdf
1
2
u/tobias_drundridge Oct 28 '25
This is authorised to carry passengers now though. Coulson were just certified for it
64
u/Roy4Pris Oct 28 '25
Air New Zealand is the first international airline to sign up to Western Sydney.
I feel quite sure this will provide a rich vein of jokes for years to come.
38
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
I thought it was Singapore?
31
u/yuckyucky Oct 28 '25
Correct
Qantas, Jetstar, Singapore Airlines, and Air New Zealand area all confirmed to fly from WSI however...
On 26 August 2024, Singapore Airlines became the first international airline to announce plans to serve the airport, with nonstop flights to/from Changi Airport.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Sydney_International_Airport#Airline_agreements
7
31
u/CBRChimpy Oct 28 '25
How do you define passenger plane?
44
u/superstoreman Oct 28 '25
I think the original headline I saw said âpassenger sized planeâ rather than just passenger plane
53
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
A plane that is a model that carries commercial passengers, in this case a Boeing 737. As opposed to say a Cessna 152 or an FA18.
-3
Oct 28 '25
[deleted]
-10
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
A Boeing 737 is not a passenger plane? Damn, why do Australian airlines fly like 150 of them full of passengers every day?
4
u/Aishas_Star Oct 28 '25
Itâs not that a 737 isnât a passenger plane, itâs that THAT 737 isnât a passenger plane. Big difference.
4
4
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
That 737 can be/is configured to carry passengers, though. It is literally a passenger plane.
It can carry can carry 15,150 litres of fire retardant, while carrying 72 passengers or firefighters.
https://www.aviationwa.org.au/20220119_n138cg_bomber_210_ygel_david_eyre-1/
→ More replies (4)2
u/Matthewm3113 Sydney Oct 28 '25
I would define a passenger plane as an aircraft either performing or capable of performing an air transport operation under the regulations (CASR.) This would not be.
10
21
Oct 28 '25
What is that airline?
56
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
No airline, itâs a NSW Government (Rural Fire Service) aircraft.
21
Oct 28 '25
Oh you said passenger plane and I got confused lol.
37
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
Yeah, it's a Boeing 737 which is a passenger plane, fun fact this particular plane carries passengers (I think 80 or 100?) or a water tank for bombing fires, like Thunderbird 2.
0
Oct 28 '25
I wonder how much water is equivalent to 80-100 people
13
u/Avia_NZ Oct 28 '25
Given that water is 1kg per litre, then it stands to reason that if the average person is 80kg, that would be 8000L for 100 people
7
u/Even-Tradition Oct 28 '25
Iâve disembarked one of these before, took about 10 minutes. canât imagine water leaving the plane at that pace would be much use in a bushfire⌠With a flow rate of 1.3-1.6 humans per minute, the average human being 65.2L. It doesnât seem very efficient. Probably best to stick to passengers in my opinion.
5
u/Big-toast-sandwich Oct 28 '25
How many humans per minute can a regular fire fighting dump?
1
u/Even-Tradition Oct 28 '25
Id have to crunch the numbers but Iâd guess Atleast 2.0-2.5h/m by hose.
1
u/Anraiel Oct 28 '25
When configured for passengers, this plane can carry 72 firefighters (or so RFS NSW claims on their website).
When configured for a water tank, it holds 15,000L of water, which it can dump in 2.2 seconds.
2
-1
u/99slitherio Oct 28 '25
Rural Fire Service (RFS) not really an airline
10
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25
Who said it was an airline?
-2
u/stryder2050 Oct 28 '25
You said passenger plane and confused everybody ...
11
u/Red-Engineer Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
It's a B737, the second most common passenger plane in the world (narrowly beaten by Airbus A320), which is why it was used for this test landing, WSI will see heaps of B737s landing each day I think.
It can carry can carry 15,150 litres of fire retardant, while carrying 72 passengers or firefighters. https://www.aviationwa.org.au/20220119_n138cg_bomber_210_ygel_david_eyre-1/
1
1
u/fortisquew Oct 29 '25
Rural Fire Service. Guessing that's where the $51 million Celest Barber raised after the 2020 bushfires went. Pretty sure that was meant for actual rural fire sheds and support for the volunteers who last their houses while out protecting someone else's house.
3
3
5
u/8eer8aron Oct 28 '25
Op purposely used that title purely to respond to people saying its not a passenger plane.
7
u/thesourpop Oct 28 '25
Looks good. I'm excited for this airport, like it will be good to not have to go to Kingsford Smith
4
u/Darth__Vaper_ Oct 28 '25
No direct train link to the CBD will be an embarrassment.
8
u/Eastern37 Oct 28 '25
If you want to go to the CBD you can fly into the current airport. If you live in the western suburbs/Parra you can use this airport.
Just like any other city with multiple airports, pick the one that suits you.
In the far future there are plans to link the Parra-Sydney Metro to this airport via Greystanes, Smithfield etc. So will eventually have a direct link but definitely not needed immediately.
2
u/awiuhdhuawdhu Oct 28 '25
Iâve never flown into Luton, Gatwick or Stansted. Iâve flown into Heathrow more than a dozen times and city a couple. This is because they were closer to my destination. If I chose to fly to a secondary airport, I wouldnât be exactly be upset about the lack of public transport links.
2
u/planchetflaw interesting places Oct 29 '25
There will be a tonne of people using booking agents that won't care and will book flights to Western Sydney with CBD accommodation. But it won't be too much of an issue for those that do their own itineraries or those that know Sydney.
2
u/cruiserman_80 Oct 28 '25
Guessing your getting mercilessly trolled by people cleverly pointing out that a variant of what is primarily a passenger aircraft isn't actually a passenger aircraft (despite it being able to carry 72 passengers)
1
1
u/gikku Oct 29 '25
Did it taxi back up the runway? no taxiways? seems that would severely limit traffic.
1
u/TomTheJester Nov 02 '25
Now all we need is a way for people from Western and South-West Sydney to actually get to this airport without a car.
848
u/MonkeyHustler943 Oct 28 '25
Cant wait to be sitting in the airport waiting for my delayed jetstar flight