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Western Sydney International Airport (WSI) has announced its first international carrier as it prepares to open in two years’ time.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has confirmed it will fly from the 24-hour greenfield airport when it opens in 2026, connecting WSI non-stop to Singapore Changi Airport. The announcement follows a memorandum of understanding signed between WSI and SIA in 2023.
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The announcement at this stage covers only mainline Singapore Airlines passenger services, with low-cost subsidiary Scoot and its cargo arm yet to confirm they will fly to WSI. Qantas and Jetstar last year announced domestic services from WSI, becoming the airport’s first two airlines.
According to WSI CEO Simon Hickey, no concrete decisions have yet been made on frequency and capacity, but daily services are possible.
“This inaugural international airline arrangement is a fantastic milestone for Western Sydney International Airport and reflects the positive response we’ve had from airlines, especially in regard to the unprecedented opportunities our 24-hour capability unlocks,” he said.
“Western Sydney International Airport’s late-night departure capacity, for instance, could allow Singapore Airlines’ business travellers to finish a full day’s work in Sydney, take an overnight flight and arrive in Singapore before their first morning meeting the very next day.
“Late-night departures could also allow passengers to transit more swiftly from Singapore through their award-winning Changi Airport hub to connect to one of the 125 destinations served by the Singapore Airlines Group.”
Speaking to Australian Aviation, Hickey said the Singapore Airlines announcement “puts WSI on the map”, and that WSI is engaging in talks with other airlines.
“It also confirms what a great offering WSI has, and our ability to attract great airlines of the calibre of the five-star Singapore Airlines, going to one of the largest international travel hubs at Changi,” he said.
“It’s obviously a major boost for slots in the peaks in Sydney and our offering at WSI, and Singapore have engaged with us and wanted to be the first international airline to announce that they were coming to WSI.
“It really signifies the importance to Singapore of the Australian market, the strength of the Western Sydney market and economy as well as the rest of Sydney, and the ability to take advantage of a 24/7 airport here in Sydney. So, all of those things, I think, went through their mind and were part of the discussions.”
Louis Arul, Singapore Airlines’ regional vice-president South West Pacific, said the announcement reflects its “commitment to enhancing network connectivity for travellers to and from Sydney, and providing additional services for Australia, which is a major market for the Singapore Airlines Group”.
“This is a unique opportunity to work with a greenfield airport to set a new base line for customer experience throughout an airport ecosystem,” he said.
“We are working closely with WSI to ensure that our customers will continue to enjoy the comprehensive, end-to-end, world-class experience that is synonymous with Singapore Airlines.”
The airport hit a major milestone last month with the completion of its terminal roof, and Hickey told Australian Aviation the airport is now 80 per cent finished and ready for operational testing.
“We’re putting all of our detailed operational plans together. We’ve got procedures that we’ve written. We’re starting to get our test regime together,” he said.
“We’re turning on the bag system and starting to put a lot of bags down there and making sure that that’s working effectively. We’re looking at our system-wide integration testing.
“There’s a big regime of testing to make sure that the airport’s ready to go in two years.”
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says:We might see the Middle East three joining and Qantas using its A321XLR to Singapore and possibly Vietnam.