October 24, 2026 — 3:00pm

Once Western Sydney International Airport opens on Sunday, the true strength of demand for flights from Australia’s newest airport will start to show. But success won’t happen overnight, aviation experts say.

The curfew-free airport is expected to benefit from Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport’s limits on capacity. But its growth may be held back by passengers’ unwillingness to try the new hub some 50 kilometres away from Sydney’s CBD, as well as airlines’ reluctance to fly there.

How busy will it get? An artist’s render of Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport.

Australia’s first newly built airport in more than half a century is launching at a time of spiralling costs for airlines amid surging fuel prices due to the war in the Middle East, and the kind of global uncertainty that makes market predictions difficult.

But playing in its favour are Sydney Airport’s well-known issues with capacity, which are often worsened by its air traffic control staffing issues,…