A Jetstar A320 has completed a trial flight into Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport, landing at 9:30am from Melbourne, eight weeks ahead of the airport’s first commercial passenger flight on Sunday, 25 October 2026.
Trial run tests full airport operation ahead of launch
The trial flight was run alongside the WSI team, testing the end-to-end customer experience through the airport to ensure smooth operations from opening day. Crew flew the arrival and departure exactly as they will in October, then worked through ground operations including the taxi route, aerobridge positioning and aircraft turnaround.
Tyrone Simes, Jetstar’s chief pilot, said the deliberate eight-week gap allows lessons from the trial to be built into procedures and crew briefings ahead of launch. “Australia hasn’t 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,” Simes said.
Matt Duffy, WSI’s chief operating officer, said the trial forms part of the airport’s Operational Readiness Program. “Today’s trial flight represents an important part of our ongoing Operational Readiness Program, which is all about preparing our staff, systems and processes to be as match-fit as possible when the airport opens for passengers next month,” Duffy said.
Jetstar confirmed as first airline to fly passengers from WSI
Flight JQ362 will depart for the Gold Coast at 11am on Sunday, 25 October 2026, marking the airport’s first commercial passenger service. From opening day, Jetstar will operate up to 14 flights a week between Western Sydney and Melbourne, daily flights to the Gold Coast (up from four weekly, following strong demand), and three weekly flights to Brisbane. All services will be flown by Airbus A320 aircraft, with the additional Gold Coast capacity bringing around 135,000 seats to and from Western Sydney annually.
For agents booking clients through the new Western Sydney gateway, the successful trial flight signals the airport remains on track for its scheduled opening, with confirmed launch-day frequencies giving advisors concrete scheduling detail to plan client bookings around from 25 October.
