Australia’s newest major airport opened to passengers on Sunday, Oct. 25. At 11.22am Sydney time, a Jetstar Airbus A320 operating flight JQ362 left Western Sydney International Airport for the Gold Coast, “marking the start of passenger flights and a new era for both Sydney and the country,” the Sydney Morning Herald reports (Sydney Morning Herald). On the U.S. West Coast that moment fell at 5:22 p.m. on Saturday. Other outlets give slightly different times: ABC News says the plane took off “just before 11:30am” and SBS News says “just before noon,” while Nine says it “took off on-time” against the 11am departure time given in the government’s release (ABC News; SBS News; Nine; Prime Minister’s office). Nine adds that the flight became “the most tracked flight in the world,” citing Flightradar24 (Nine).
Watch: the first flights in and out
Three video posts on X from Sunday, Sydney time. The first two come from 7NEWS Sydney and the Sydney Morning Herald; the third, from the trade outlet Australian Aviation, shows the return flight landing. This desk has not frame-checked any of the clips. If an embed does not load, it shows as a plain link.
View the @7NewsSydney post on X
View the @smh post on X
View the @ausaviation post on X
The government framed the day as a national milestone. In a joint release with Infrastructure and Transport Minister Catherine King, Albanese said: “For the first time in more than 50 years, Australia is opening a major new airport.” He added: “It’s a milestone that has been decades in the making and one that belongs to the people of Western Sydney” (Prime Minister’s office). The release says the Hawke government designated Badgerys Creek as the site for Sydney’s second major airport in 1986, and that the project saw “over 40 years of anticipation, 15 years of planning, seven years of construction and a year of rigorous testing” (Prime Minister’s office). King said in the same release: “It can’t be overstated how big a moment this is for Western Sydney, for its people, for its economy and its industries” (Prime Minister’s office). At the terminal, Albanese unveiled a commemorative plaque, the SMH reports (SMH).
The airport sits at Badgerys Creek, near Luddenham, on the city’s western fringe. ABC News and SBS News both put it about 45 kilometres from Sydney’s central business district, and ABC says it lies 18km from Penrith’s city centre (ABC News; SBS News). Reuters gives a larger figure, “about 60km west of central Sydney,” without saying how it measured (Reuters via The Straits Times). A straight line between the OpenStreetMap positions of the airport and Sydney Town Hall, measured by this desk, runs about 46 km; road distance runs longer. The airport carries the name of the aviator Nancy-Bird Walton, known as the “Angel of the Outback,” and her daughter attended the opening, the SMH reports (SMH).
Round-the-clock operation forms the core of the pitch. Reuters notes that Sydney’s existing airport, closer to the city center, can host takeoffs and landings only until 11pm and after 6am local time, which limits airline scheduling (Reuters via The Straits Times). SBS News calls the new site “Sydney's first 24-hour airport” (SBS News). Airport chief executive Simon Hickey told ABC News: “This is a massive milestone; this is a generational change to aviation” (ABC News). In remarks quoted by Nine, Hickey went further: “WSI is the most transformational piece of infrastructure our nation has seen since the Sydney Harbour Bridge” (Nine).
The reported numbers do not all line up. Reuters gives the cost as A$5.6 billion, while the SMH, summarizing Albanese’s remarks, refers to “the new $6 billion airport”; the government release instead places the airport within “an $18 billion investment” in Western Sydney that also covers rail and road links (Reuters; SMH; Prime Minister’s office). On the workforce, the release says “more than 13,000 workers” helped deliver the broader precinct, while ABC quotes Hickey as saying about 10,000 workers helped build the airport (Prime Minister’s office; ABC News). On timing, SBS says construction began in 2018 after the Abbott government signed off on the site in 2014, and Reuters describes “a seven-year build”; Nine instead writes that construction “began in 2014” (SBS News; Reuters; Nine). Former prime minister Tony Abbott told the SMH that his government made the “final, irrevocable and definitive decision to make it happen” (SMH).
The first terminal has room for about 10 million passengers a year, according to SBS News and Nine, and ABC quotes Hickey comparing it to Adelaide Airport in size (SBS News; Nine; ABC News). ABC reports that with more terminals and a second runway the airport could reach 82 million passengers a year in the 2060s; Reuters, citing an airport statement, gives capacity for “more than 80 million passenger movements annually” (ABC News; Reuters). Cargo flights began in July (Reuters).
Airlines plan a gradual build-up. The SMH reports that Jetstar will run up to 14 weekly flights to Melbourne, daily Gold Coast services and three a week to Brisbane; that Air New Zealand’s NZ165 from Auckland, due at 7.55am Monday, should become the first international service; and that Singapore Airlines, Vietjet and Fiji Airways follow over coming months, with Qatar Airways planning three flights a week from late next year and Qantas starting on March 28 next year (SMH). SBS counts seven passenger carriers committed so far (SBS News). Jetstar chief executive Stephanie Tully told the SMH: “This airport provides a choice for people in NSW, which they’ve never had before” (SMH). First officer Aglaya Papadokokolakis, 25, from Blacktown, who flew the first departure with captain Guy Proctor, told ABC News: “Today still feels very surreal” (ABC News; SMH).
Not everyone nearby shares the celebration. In August, ABC News reported that families living within 2 kilometres of the runway said overnight cargo flights left them short of sleep, and that the federal Department of Infrastructure and Transport had yet to complete a single home insulation installation in nearby suburbs under a free program announced in 2023. “It has been absolutely horrible,” Luddenham resident Katherine Wong told ABC then. A department spokesperson told ABC at the time that of 236 buildings eligible for noise treatment, 129 had applied, 74 had won approval and 17 had entered “acoustic assessments” before work could begin (ABC News, Aug. 27). Access poses another test: ABC reported last week that the metro line from St Marys should open in 2027 and that until then a free shuttle bus runs from St Marys station, about 20km away; travelers from inner Sydney face no direct public transport route (ABC News, Oct. 21). Penrith mayor Todd Carney said state and federal governments would have to back growth with significant investment in roads and infrastructure, SBS reports (SBS News).
Opposition leader Angus Taylor, whose electorate includes the airport, said he felt “proud to see history made in Western Sydney,” according to SBS News, which also quotes former infrastructure minister Paul Fletcher telling the Australian Associated Press: “This is a 10, 20, 30, 50, 100-year project” (SBS News). Open questions as of this update: how quickly airlines fill the 24-hour slots, whether noise insulation reaches nearby homes, and when the rail link actually opens. This desk read Reuters through its copy in The Straits Times; the airport’s own website did not respond to an automated request. For an earlier aviation item, see this desk’s look at two flight emergencies.