Future West: How Western Sydney businesses will benefit from new airport
The countdown is on until the Western Sydney International airport opens, and no one is more excited than business owners in surrounding districts. This is how they plan to leverage the new airport.
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Western Sydney businesses are counting down the days until the highly anticipated Western Sydney International airport (WSI) and aerotropolis opens in Badgerys Creek, with it marking a new age for the region and drawing countless new visitors.
The airport has long been hailed as a game changer for Western Sydney, predicted to draw up to 10 million visitors each year and bring highly anticipated growth to the region in both population and infrastructure.
The nearby aerotropolis, which has been touted as an airport city, is predicted to create more than 100,000 new jobs across its multiple precincts by 2056.
Clarissa and David DiPietrantonio, the power couple behind Goliath Coffee Roasters in Wetherill Park, were born and raised in western Sydney and have watched the area transform over the years.
Mr DiPietrantonio has been working in the roasting industry for almost a decade, starting his career in Sydney’s north shore because “the opportunities did not really present themselves” in their home area.
This changed seven years later when the couple chose to open Goliath Coffee Roasters right near the bustling M4 and M7 and business has been booming with the rapid growth of western Sydney ever since.
Now, the couple are looking forward to reaping the benefits of the new airport and its positive impact on the community, which Ms DiPietrantonio said would give them the confidence to invest more time and energy into their business growth.
“Whether it be (looking) at exporting or whether it be we partner with people within the aerotropolis or surrounding suburbs, expanding our production, possibly looking at other sites in addition to what we’re already doing, I think it just has that layer of certainty that we are in the right place to grow as a business, as a brand,” she said.
Similarly, Michelle Morgan, who owns Morgans Coffee and Zokoko Chocolate in Emu Heights with her husband Dean, said they looked forward to the opportunities the airport would bring the region.
The Morgans established their coffee roastery at the foot of the Blue Mountains in 2004, followed by their chocolate factory five years later in 2009.
Mrs Morgan said while their business attracted some international tourists, and there are sure to be more once international flights start landing at WSI, she and her husband were most looking forward to the predicted population growth in the area.
“We’re not open seven days and we’re not so much a destination tourist place, so we see the opportunities (from the airport) in there being more businesses in western Sydney, that might be focused around the airport or coming as a result of,” she said.
“For us, (there will be) more people to drink coffee and enjoy our products, so that’s the side we look at it from.”
Meanwhile, in nearby Penrith, Squinters Brewing Co owner Matt Davey said he was most looking forward to growing their customer base once the airport opened.
The brewery, which opened in 2022, started as a mobile canning business and gradually grew into a canning and kegging small artisan craft beers business and then a stand-alone brewery.
Mr Davey said the brewery did not have the marketing budget of some of the bigger breweries and mainly relied on word of mouth to grow its customer base.
He hoped the number of visitors coming into Penrith from the airport would help them grow.
“Having more people come into the area, stay in the area and explore to come and try our products, that would be great,” he said.
The airport is tipped to open in early 2026, while the aerotropolis is slated to open by the end of that year.
This article is part of the Future Western Sydney series, which is proudly supported by Clubs NSW, Powerhouse, Transurban, Walker Corp, Western Sydney International Airport and Western Sydney University
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