Bechtel supported delivery of one of Australia’s largest infrastructure projects. Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport is a state-of-the-art, award-winning airport, designed to accommodate 10 million passengers annually.
Read More
Bechtel is at the forefront of constructing innovative battery manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Our expert team ensures compliance with local codes and standards, conducts thorough pre-inspections, and manages permitting, startup processes, and risk identification.
Read More
The Bechtel-built mine, one of the largest copper resources, features a first-of-its-kind desalination plant and will operate on 100% renewable energy by 2025.
Read More
November 10, 2026
Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport (WSI) opened to passengers on 25 October 2026, following a design, construction, and commissioning program led by Western Sydney Airport Corporation with Bechtel Australia as Delivery Partner that finished months ahead of schedule. The opening marks a new era of aviation, trade, and economic activity for Western Sydney and Australia.
Jetstar operated the airport’s first commercial passenger service, flying from WSI to the Gold Coast. Passenger operations follow the start of freight services in July and cap 15 years of planning, seven years of construction and a year of testing and operational readiness.
“I offer my warm congratulations to our partner, Western Sydney Airport Corporation, our contractors, and all the colleagues and partners who have come together to make this project such a success,” said Darren Mort President of Infrastructure and Executive Director at Bechtel. “WSI shows what the integrated model can achieve when a customer, delivery partner, and contractors work as one team around a clear vision. Together, we transformed a 1,780-hectare greenfield site into a modern international airport, months ahead of schedule.”
Since 2018, Bechtel has served as Delivery Partner to Western Sydney Airport Corporation, the company responsible for building and operating WSI. Under this model, Bechtel:
The program combined large-scale engineering with new approaches to sustainability and technology. It delivered Australia’s largest earthworks program and reused nearly 6 million tonnes of sandstone from Sydney tunnelling projects that would otherwise have gone to landfill. More than 60 software platforms were integrated into one operating environment covering passenger processing, security, retail, and office systems. A 4.5-megawatt solar system, all-electric heating, and rainwater harvesting are built into the airport. And the new terminal includes extensive innovative elements, from the integrated domestic/international check-in area, a state-of-the art baggage system, and departure/arrival gates able to be used for both domestic and international flights.
The airport is designed to initially serve up to 10 million passengers a year, with capacity to expand as demand grows. It has already helped catalyze AU$19 billion in surrounding infrastructure investment and is projected to contribute AU$23.9 billion to Australia’s gross domestic product by 2060.
“Today marks years of hard work, collaboration, and commitment from thousands of people, including more than 330 Bechtel colleagues across design, engineering, procurement, and project delivery,” said Richard Freer, Managing Director of Bechtel’s Public Infrastructure Business in Australia. “Excellent project set up, led by the Federal Infrastructure Department, strong front-end planning, disciplined project controls, and new ways of integrating complex systems kept multiple contractors and interconnected packages moving towards the same completion date. That’s how we finished ahead of the schedule set back in 2018. Just as important, more than half of the workforce came from Western Sydney, so this airport was built by the community it now serves.”
Bechtel has been serving Australian communities and customers for more than 70 years with projects spanning airports, rail, mines, mineral processing facilities, LNG installations, refineries, chemical plants, power stations, and telecommunications infrastructure. At peak construction on WSI, the project team brought together around 4,000 people; across the full construction period, more than 11,000 people worked on the project, with more than half drawn from Western Sydney. The program also engaged more than 360 local businesses and exceeded its workforce participation targets for local, diverse, First Nations and learner workers.
WSI is Australia’s new 24-hour global gateway, providing domestic, international, and freight services, supporting Western Sydney’s long-term growth and Australia’s future aviation capacity.
Bechtel is a trusted engineering, construction, procurement, and project management partner to industry and government. Differentiated by the quality of our people and our relentless drive to deliver the most successful outcomes, we align our capabilities to our customers’ objectives to create a lasting positive impact. Since 1898, we have helped customers complete more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries on all seven continents that have created jobs, grown economies, improved the resiliency of the world’s infrastructure, increased access to energy, resources, and vital services, and made the world a safer, cleaner place.
Bechtel serves the Energy; Infrastructure; Manufacturing & Technology; Mining & Metals; and Nuclear, Security & Environmental markets. Our services span from initial planning and investment, through start-up and operations. www.bechtel.com
