Credit : Anthony Albanese's X
SYDNEY, October 25, 2026 — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has officially opened Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport, the country’s first major new airport in more than 50 years, as its first commercial passenger flight took off on Sunday.
“Western Sydney International Airport is now open,” Albanese said in a post on X. “This is what building Australia’s future looks like. WSI Nancy-Bird Walton Airport will connect Western Sydney and Australia to the world with 24/7 flights. That means more jobs, opportunity and growth to millions of Australians.”
He described it as “our first new major airport in more than 50 years and a proud day for Australia”.
The airport’s first passenger service, a sold-out Jetstar flight, JQ362, to the Gold Coast, departed shortly before 11.30am local time, ABC News reported. The first international service, an Air New Zealand flight to Auckland, was scheduled for the following day, October 26. Cargo operations at the airport began on July 26, 2026.
“This is an absolutely extraordinary day,” Albanese said at the opening ceremony. “A great day for Western Sydney, a great day for Sydney, a great day for NSW and a great day for the nation.” He added that it was “Australia’s best airport, without question”.
Located at Badgerys Creek, about 45 kilometres from Sydney’s central business district, the airport operates without a curfew, unlike Sydney Airport at Mascot, which is closed to commercial flights between 11pm and 6am. WSI’s chief executive, Simon Hickey, said the airport had been designed for growth and could reach its full capacity of 82 million passengers a year in the 2060s.
According to the Prime Minister’s office, the project was 40 years in the making. Badgerys Creek was designated as the site of Sydney’s second major airport by the Hawke government in 1986, and construction began in 2018. The terminal took more than nine million working hours, and more than 13,000 workers helped deliver the wider precinct, over half of whom live in Western Sydney.
The passenger terminal handles international and domestic travellers under the same roof and includes more than 40 check-in kiosks and 34 bag-drop kiosks, according to a joint statement from Albanese and Infrastructure Minister Catherine King. The statement said the opening followed more than 40 years of anticipation, 15 years of planning, seven years of construction and a year of rigorous testing.
The airport is named after Nancy-Bird Walton, the pioneering Australian aviator. Hundreds of spectators gathered to watch the Jetstar Airbus A320 take off on its maiden passenger voyage, with Blacktown-raised pilot Aglaya Papadokokolakis among the crew. “It’s such an honour and something I’m going to remember for the rest of my career,” she told ABC News.
Qantas and Jetstar will operate domestic services, while international carriers include Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Vietjet and Fiji Airways. Albanese said Singapore Airlines would begin daily services to Singapore within a month, and Qatar Airways would fly to Doha three times a week from mid-December.
The airport is the first major greenfield airport to open in Australia since Melbourne’s Tullamarine in 1970, Australian Associated Press reported. Former Liberal prime ministers Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott were among those in the audience at the ceremony.
“I want to thank the thousands of workers who made it happen,” Albanese said. “This airport will make a real difference for Western Sydney, creating jobs, supporting local businesses and making it easier for people to travel for generations to come.”
Source: Anthony Albanese on X
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