Qantas and Jetstar first airlines to fly domestically from Western ...

Qantas and Jetstar will be the first airlines to fly domestically from Sydney's new $5.3 billion airport in the city's west.

Key points:The new airport will be the first in Sydney to operate 24 hours a dayFive Qantas and 10 Jetstar aircraft will be based there within its first year of operationSome 80 million people are eventually expected to move through the airport each year

The construction of the Western Sydney Airport has now reached the halfway mark and is on track to be open in late 2026. 

The Australian airlines are the first to sign a commercial agreement with the airport. 

The deal involves basing five Qantas and 10 Jetstar aircraft at the Badgerys Creek site, within its first year of operating. 

The planes will fly domestic routes to destinations including Melbourne, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast. 

It is estimated the aircraft will move 4 million passengers on more than 25,000 flights each year, and create 700 jobs. 

Qantas boss Alan Joyce visited the site of the new Western Sydney Airport this morning.(AAP: Flavio Brancaleone)

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the new airport would be the most technologically advanced and efficient in Australia. 

"I have absolutely no doubt it will be the biggest airport on the Qantas network one day," Mr Joyce said. 

"It'll have shorter block times, shorter taxi times, [and] allows us to turn around aircraft faster."

Mr Joyce said talks are ongoing with the airport about operating international and freight routes. 

The Western Sydney Airport will be the first in New South Wales to operate with no curfew, 24 hours a day. 

It will eventually move 80 million people throughout Australia and overseas each year. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the airport as a "transformational project for Western Sydney", which has already brought in $400 million to the local economy and created more than 4,000 jobs. 

"This is about jobs and economic activity and changing the focus of Sydney," Mr Albanese said. 

"Instead of always looking inward towards the east and towards the city it looks outwards to Western Sydney where most of the population of this great global city live." 

The airport's chief executive Simon Hickey said it was designed for growth.

"Over the decades ahead it'll actually become the same scale and size of JFK and Dubai."