Qantas Freight has launched round-the-clock cargo operations at Western Sydney International Airport, with the airport’s new cargo terminal now open and the first freighter service departing for Brisbane. The opening puts the new Western Sydney facility into live freight use for the first time and gives Sydney a new 24-hour cargo gateway with no curfew.
The inaugural movement formed the first commercial cargo flight from WSI. Qantas Freight plans domestic links from the airport to Melbourne, Cairns, Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Perth, extending the network from the western Sydney precinct. The operation is built around a 24,000-square-metre terminal designed to support time-sensitive freight flows, including parcels, perishables and other urgent shipments.
Qantas Freight handled more than 160,000 parcels in the first 24 hours of operation, underlining the scale of the opening day ramp-up. Weekly throughput is expected to exceed 850 tonnes, while the broader first-stage cargo precinct covers about 733,000 square metres and has an initial annual capacity of roughly 250,000 tonnes. The longer-term plan lifts potential capacity to as much as 1.8 million tonnes a year as the precinct expands and more operators join the site.