Sawt Falasteen - First international flight takes off from new Sydney airport

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.

"It's not every day you get to be part of opening a brand-new international airport," said Air New Zealand chief operations officer Kate Boyer.

"Western Sydney is home to more than 2.5 million people and it's a further gateway for Australian visitors to discover everything our country has to offer."

The new single-runway airport, Australia's first new major aviation hub in more than five decades, began domestic flights on Sunday, 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 centre, 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.

"Through our 24-hour operations, Western Sydney International Airport gives airlines greater flexibility to connect into global hubs and travellers more choice in how they reach the world," said airport chief executive Simon Hickey.

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 (US$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.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the new airport marked a "wonderful new chapter" for Australia.

It would also drive economic and jobs into western Sydney, an area often overshadowed by the city's famed habour and central business district (CBD), he said at the weekend.

"For too long, Sydney has looked towards the harbour and the CBD. What this does is turn it around to where people live, to where jobs occur, to where investment occurs in western Sydney."

M.AbuKhalil--SF-PST