PETER STEFANOVIC: Well, testing is about to begin at the Western Sydney International Airport across the runway and terminal precincts. Joining us live this morning is Infrastructure and Transport Minister Catherine King. Minister, thanks for your time this morning. So can you elaborate on what tests will now be done and how they'll be carried out?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, of course. Good to be with you, Pete. It's a pretty milestone day for Western Sydney International Airport. The testing, the first test of the flight path will be underway. It'll be a Cessna plane supervised by CASA our Civil Aviation Safety Agency, to really make sure that the flight paths are going to work. There'll be more testing again, we'll have a bigger plane, a jet next week, but the Cessna will be the first one. And also then, and so that's testing all the technical equipment in terms of landing and the flight paths themselves. And then we've also got lots of walkthroughs of the airport, the baggage handling system, which is really one of the world's first really in this country, coming here, a really automated baggage handling system, much more than any other airport in the country. So they're going to be testing that, putting some bags through. So all of that work getting ready to have this airport open to freight and mid next year and passengers at the end of next year

PETER STEFANOVIC: So there has been some pushback, some conjecture when it comes to flight paths particularly from those who live underneath it so is there going to be more community consultation when those tests begin?

CATHERINE KING: Well, there's already community consultation underway while those flight paths are finalised. So that sort of has happened and is happening now. We've undertaken the, Airservices Australia who's responsible for the flight path design, have undertaken really significant consultation right the way through this process, including releasing noise tools and trying to really make sure people understand what the impacts of these flight paths will and won't be. The nature of airports is there will always be some noise. We can't mitigate that completely but we have got plans in place obviously for noise amelioration for affected properties and then obviously the flight path testing as well. That also is partly underway.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Only four airlines have so far committed to the Western Sydney Airport. So far, two of them are Australian. Do you have any worries about that slow uptake at this early stage?

CATHERINE KING: Look, no, I don't. I think that, you know, will Western Sydney International Airport have the same number of flights as Kingsford Smith on day one? No, it won't. We're expecting it to slowly build up and that's right for the way in which we've actually operationalised the airport. But of course, a shout out to the other Australian airline. We'd be really keen for you to get out there as well. We're keen, the airport and the CEO's been out there talking to international airlines and Australian airlines as well. Qantas was a first mover. We've got Singapore as well as Air New Zealand and looking forward to seeing more to come.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Okay, on another airline, Rex, it's finally got a buyer, the American company, Air T. Just looking at it, part of its business is parts and several business types that I've spoken to have questioned the value of Rex, particularly long term. Do you have any concerns that this company bought Rex just to part out the aeroplanes?

CATHERINE KING: Well, we've done a lot of due diligence on the company and I think the good thing about this is that the government stepped in. This would not have happened frankly had the opposition been in power. The government stepped in to allow the administration time to find a credible buyer for Rex. It will now be up to the creditors to determine if they're comfortable with that plan and they'll have a creditors meeting to see whether Air T can do it. We've done our due diligence on the company. I think the good thing, and there's a lot of reports about this today, is it is an aviation business. It's an aviation business that buys other aviation businesses for the long haul to stay in and invest. And I'm assured by the assurances given yesterday by Air T in its release that they're looking forward to being in the Australian market with a passenger airline and servicing all of the regions that it now services.

PETER STEFANOVIC: So what guarantees have you received that they will continue to operate Rex long term without reducing their network footprint?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah well that's certainly part of the negotiations the Australian Government has had with the company. We've entered into an agreement with them as well and that was part of why the Government stepped in in the first place. We knew that it was too important to let Rex fall over for regional Australia. We wanted to make sure that those routes would continue to thrive and I also note that the company has said as it wants to bring more aircraft online and it has the capacity to do that because it is in the business of the SAABs which Rex operates as it brings more aircraft online it would also hope to strengthen those routes and potentially open new routes so that’s been part of the discussions my department has had with the operator through the administrator as well.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Would you be hoping Rex flies out from Western Sydney Airport?

CATHERINE KING: Maybe. There's certainly an opportunity for it to do so. But let's let the second creditors' meeting happen. But, again, as I said, when we started this process, I think the opposition said this was all a bridge too far. We were putting too much money into this. We've been proved that this was the right thing to do, give the administrators time to actually find and really save this airline because it was too important for our regions to let this fall over.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Is Western Sydney Airport, final one here, on track? Any more delays on track for opening?

CATHERINE KING: Yes it is, yeah it is. So, freight will start, so the first planes out will be freight planes, so that will start in mid next year and then passengers for the end of next year, 2026.

PETER STEFANOVIC: That's the Transport Minister, Catherine King. Thank you so much, Minister. We'll chat again soon.