Live flights at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD)

Sydney's airport at Mascot dates to 1920, when aviator Nigel Love established an aerodrome on paddocks beside Botany Bay, making it one of the oldest continually operating commercial airports in the world. The Commonwealth acquired the site in 1923, paved runways followed.

In 1953 it was named after Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, the Australian who first flew the Pacific in 1928. The jet era brought a long north-south runway thrust into Botany Bay on reclaimed land and a new international terminal, opened in 1970 in time for the Boeing 747.

The most controversial chapter came with the third runway, a second north-south strip built on reclamation in the bay and opened in 1994. The resulting noise fury over inner Sydney produced the strict overnight curfew and an 80-movements-per-hour cap that still govern operations.

The airport was privatized in 2002 and remains Qantas's home base and the nation's premier international gateway, hosting the world's first commercial A380 services in 2007. Relief is finally coming: Western Sydney International at Badgerys Creek, curfew-free and named for aviator Nancy-Bird Walton, is slated to open in 2026 to share the load.

Sydney operates two parallel north-south runways, one on reclaimed land in Botany Bay, plus a shorter east-west crosswind runway, all governed by an overnight curfew and an hourly movement cap that make schedules tight. Terminal 1 handles international flights on the western side, while Terminals 2 and 3 on the east serve domestic Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar, and Rex, with passengers transferring between precincts by bus or train.

Qantas runs its global hub here, including flagship services to London and Los Angeles. The airport is Australia's busiest for both passengers and international freight.