Sydney’s Second Airport Opens With One Big Advantage: No Curfew

Western Sydney International Airport is set to begin passenger operations on October 25, giving Australia’s largest city its first second major airport in decades. Jetstar will fly the inaugural departure, a service to the Gold Coast, which makes the opening day a domestic affair before the international schedule takes shape.

Air New Zealand follows the very next day with flights from Auckland. That makes the carrier the first international airline to serve the new airport and an early signal of how the airfield intends to compete for trans-Tasman traffic that has long funnelled through Sydney Kingsford Smith.

The detail that sets the new airport apart is operational rather than architectural. Western Sydney has no nighttime curfew, whereas Kingsford Smith is restricted in the hours it can operate. For airlines, that flexibility can open up late-evening and early-morning departures, and for freight and long-haul schedules it can change which times of day are commercially workable.

Travellers should treat the opening as the start of a gradual ramp rather than an overnight shift. Only a handful of routes have been confirmed so far, and the established airport will remain the main gateway for most international services for the time being. Anyone planning a trip around the opening week should check which terminal their airline is using before heading to the airport.

Sources: eTurboNews