SYDNEY, Australia — Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport opened to passengers on Sunday, with the first commercial flight, a sold-out Jetstar service JQ362 to the Gold Coast, taking off just before 11:30 a.m., ABC News reported.
It is the first service from a major new Australian airport in more than 50 years. The airport at Badgerys Creek, 45 kilometres from Sydney’s CBD, operates 24 hours a day, unlike Sydney’s Mascot terminals. It opened for cargo in July.
“This is an absolutely extraordinary day,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. “This is Australia best airport without question,” he added, as quoted by ABC News.
Badgerys Creek was designated as the site of Sydney’s second airport in 1986. Airlines signed up include Fiji Airways, Vietjet, Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Qantas and Jetstar, according to the Prime Minister’s office.
WSI chief executive Simon Hickey said the terminal is about the size of Adelaide Airport, around 10 million passengers a year, and that with more terminals and a second runway the airport could reach 82 million passengers a year by the 2060s. Pilot Aglaya Papadokokolakis, raised in Blacktown, flew the first departure: “It’s such an honour and something I’m going to remember for the rest of my career.”
Sources: ABC News, Prime Minister of Australia
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