Australia's next international airport has reached a milestone. A light plane has landed and taken off from the recently completed runway at the new Western Sydney airport six years after construction began. While a small group gathered to witness the spectacle, the test marks a critical stage in the airport's development.
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00:00Putting on a show for the crowd, a light aircraft flies just above Australia's newest international
00:09runway.
00:10A false landing until finally wheels on the tarmac.
00:14I think this is a really unique experience you get to see.
00:17Not many people can say they've been here so I was very excited to come.
00:20It was cool to see all that, like how the planes could just fly and that.
00:26From farmland to the first official take off and landing, even the native wildlife
00:31set up shop to witness the Western Sydney Airport become one step closer to welcoming
00:36some bigger aircraft.
00:38This really signifies that we're moving from a construction phase to a testing and commissioning
00:45phase.
00:46It wasn't the first time a plane grounded on the site in Badgerys Creek.
00:51That accolade goes to a student pilot forced to make an emergency landing when it was nothing
00:56but dirt.
00:58Today's planned test of the runway's aeronautical ground lights running a whole lot smoother.
01:04It's going to open up a whole heap more, which is going to be the important part I suppose
01:08for the future of the country.
01:10Today's touchdown comes exactly six years since construction on the airport first began.
01:16But the first commercial flight to carry passengers is still more than two years away,
01:21a completion date which for now remains on schedule.
01:25Short layover before reaching its final destination.