After decades of debate, Sydney finally has a second major airport. Here’s where it is, who flies there, and why it matters for travellers and the city.
Western Sydney International Airport, known by its code WSI, is Sydney’s first new major airport in more than a century of flying from Mascot.
Its full name is Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport, after the pioneering Australian aviator. It sits at Badgerys Creek, about 45 kilometres west of the CBD and about 18 kilometres from Penrith, in the middle of a region that is home to millions of people who have long had to cross the city to catch a flight.
The first passenger flight, Jetstar’s JQ362 to the Gold Coast, took off on Sunday 25 October 2026. Freight operations started a few months earlier, in July.
Jetstar is flying to the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Brisbane from opening. Air New Zealand is the first international airline, flying to Auckland, and Singapore Airlines plans daily flights to Singapore from late November, subject to approvals. Qantas, through QantasLink, is due to start flights to Melbourne and Brisbane in March 2027.
Why it matters, and how to get there
The biggest difference from Sydney Airport is the lack of a curfew. Mascot can’t operate most flights between 11pm and 6am and is limited to 80 aircraft movements an hour, which caps how many flights can be squeezed in. Western Sydney can operate around the clock, which gives airlines more flexibility for overnight international and freight services.
The airport has a single 3.7-kilometre runway and one terminal, designed to handle around 10 million passengers a year in its first stage. That’s similar to Adelaide Airport. The long-term plan, with more terminals and a second runway, is for up to 82 million passengers a year by the 2060s.
For now, most passengers will arrive by road. The toll-free M12 Motorway links the airport to the M7, and buses run to Penrith, Liverpool, Campbelltown, Leppington and Mount Druitt, with a free shuttle to St Marys station. The Sydney Metro line to the airport, running from St Marys, is scheduled to open in 2027.
The airport is also expected to be a major source of jobs, with thousands of workers needed to run it, and an “aerotropolis” business and industry precinct being developed around it.
