Simon Hickey, chief executive of Western Sydney International Airport, has spent his tenure navigating one crisis after another, from Australia's COVID-19 lockdowns to floods, bushfires and plagues. Now, with the terminal ready for its first passengers, a new profile traces the 'white-knuckle ride' of the man behind the nation's first major airport in half a century, 25 years after he watched the September 11 attacks from his New York office.
Simon Hickey took on the job of overseeing construction of Western Sydney International about three months after Australia entered its first COVID-19 lockdown, and the crises kept coming: floods in western Sydney, bushfires, and locust and mouse plagues. He is the chief executive of what is Australia's first major airport in half a century.
The profile, carried by The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and WA Today, traces what its headline calls a 'white-knuckle ride'. Mr Hickey has often found himself at the centre of catastrophes. Twenty-five years ago he was in his office in New York's MetLife Building, working for Bovis Lend Lease, when a colleague rushed in to tell him the World Trade Centre was on fire. "If you stepped outside my office, you could just look down and see the World Trade Centre," he recalls.
The article is published alongside images of the airport's terminal, named after aviation pioneer Nancy Bird Walton, described as ready for its first passengers. The headline also references a Qantas grounding among the disruptions of his tenure.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- Western Sydney International is the first major airport built in Australia in more than half a century, and its opening will reshape aviation in the country's largest city.
- A terminal ready for passengers signals the project is entering its final phase, with implications for airlines, travellers in the city's west and the future role of the existing Sydney Airport.
- The succession of crises Mr Hickey has navigated, from a pandemic to natural disasters, shows what can befall a megaproject before its first flight.
Background
Western Sydney International, named after Australian aviation pioneer Nancy Bird Walton, has been built to serve the rapidly growing western Sydney region and to ease pressure on Sydney's existing airport at Mascot. The project has been decades in the making and ranks among Australia's largest infrastructure undertakings. The article does not state an opening date, but with the terminal ready for passengers, the airport appears to be in its final stages before airlines begin flying.
Key Perspectives
Western Sydney residents and businesses: The airport is expected to bring jobs and development to a region long disadvantaged by the distance to Sydney Airport, while cutting travel times for people in the city's west.
Airlines expected to fly from the new airport: Carriers, including Qantas, have a stake in the project's success, and the grounding referenced in the article is a reminder of how fragile airline operations can be. Their schedules and services will determine whether the airport gains traction with passengers.
Critics and project skeptics: Major airport projects carry risks around cost, noise, environmental impacts and ground transport connections, and this one has had to absorb pandemic disruptions, floods, bushfires and plagues during construction.
What to Watch
- The announcement of an opening date and the first commercial flights from the terminal.
- Airline decisions on which routes and services will be based at the new airport.
- Progress on transport links connecting western Sydney to the airport, a factor that will largely determine how quickly passenger numbers build.