Passengers board an Air New Zealand aircraft operating the first international departure from the newly-opened Western Sydney International Airport in Sydney on October 26, 2026. (AFP Photo)
The first international flight took off on Oct. 26 from a new, multi-billion-dollar airport in the fast-growing western suburbs of Sydney.
After more than four decades of planning, Western Sydney International Airport offers the first alternative to the city's main airport, which has been operating for more than a century.
An Air New Zealand plane from Auckland landed and soon afterwards flew out of the airport in the morning, launching a three-flights-a-week service to Sydney's largely working-class western suburbs.
The new single-runway airport, Australia's first new major aviation hub in more than five decades, began domestic flights on Oct. 25, and freight operations in July.
Sydney's main airport, Kingsford Smith, is Australia's busiest, its three runways handling more than 42 million passengers last year.
Lying in Botany Bay just nine kilometres (six miles) from the city center, planes using the airport roar over many city homes, and a curfew bars passenger aircraft from operating during the night.
The new airport in western Sydney has no such restrictions.
Qantas' budget carrier Jetstar is now the main domestic carrier, flying to the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The airport says other international carriers are coming, including Qatar Airways from December 2027, Fiji Airways from March 2027, and Vietjet Air from January 2027.
Built at a cost of AUS$5.3 billion ($3.7 billion), excluding surrounding transport works, the airport is reachable by road but is not expected to have a direct rail link until at least December 2027.
