CRAIG REUCASSEL, HOST: Well, the first flights to the new Western Sydney Airport will go on sale today. They'll be going to Singapore in November. Catherine King is the Federal Transport Minister and joins me now. Morning, Minister.

MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT CATHERINE KING: Good morning, Craig.

REUCASSEL: Yeah, so the first flight, this is exciting. I mean, it's meant to be opening in October, isn't it? Is the November kind of date of these flights suggesting a bit of caution on the behalf of Singapore Airlines?

KING: No. Look, there are other airlines who will announce their tickets going on sale shortly, and so the October date is the opening date for passengers. It'll open to freight in July, but today Singapore is announcing its tickets are going on sale. First flight, November the 23rd. They'll go on sale around 1 o'clock today. I expect there'll be quite a bit of demand for these. It's a daily flight leaving midnight from Western Sydney International Airport arriving in Singapore at 5am the next morning and obviously while Singapore's a great destination in and of itself, it's a terrific hub to be able to get to the rest of the world. Then there'll be a return flight leaving about 11 o'clock in the morning and hitting Western Sydney around 10:30. So good opportunities for people to pop online.

REUCASSEL: So 10.30 pm it's landing?

KING: Yes.

REUCASSEL: So I mean both of these flights are, well 10.30 I guess is late but not as late as the other one which is leaving at 11.55. I guess this is a reminder to people in Western Sydney who are in the area, this is a 24-hour airport. You'll have planes flying all night.

KING: Certainly, it's a curfew-free airport, and so that's the opportunity that is provided to Western Sydney Airport to be able to get more flights in and some of those overnight flights. A lot of people, I think, do like to be able to travel, get on a plane, get to sleep, you wake up and you're actually at your destination the next morning. So often that helps with jet lag as well. So this is good news for Western Sydney. First international flights, ticket sales announced today.

REUCASSEL: Now, do we have any new... We've only got four airlines at the moment that have announced they're going to be coming out of Western Sydney Airport. Do we have any negotiations going on with other airlines? Are we expecting to see more?

KING: Look, yes, we are. There are negotiations ongoing. Obviously, some of the Middle Eastern airlines were looking very closely. There's been significant issues in the Middle East at the moment, so I would expect that they're fairly busy with other matters at the moment, but negotiations are ongoing. We've seen our bilateral aviation rights really increase under the Albanese Government. We've got increased flights from Cathay Pacific. We've got increased flights from Vietnam Airlines. We've had Turkish Airlines also come in, I think they're about to come into Sydney shortly as well. British Airways is obviously increasing its flights as well. So lots of opportunities. And Western Sydney International is a great airport and they're doing a lot of work to get some more airlines there. But obviously we'll see ticket sales from Qantas, Jetstar and Air New Zealand shortly.

REUCASSEL: In terms of Singapore Airlines, the first one to put their tickets on sale, they've still got, I think, three or four flights out of the Sydney City Airport rather than the Western Sydney Airport. Is this what we're going to see is basically airlines stay predominantly in the city but just use it for late-night flights from Western Sydney Airport?

KING: I think you'll see an increase in demand through Western Sydney and it's a huge population catchment area. And what you'll see, I think, is a continued, strong Kingsford Smith Airport, flights continuing to go there, but obviously because it is an airport with a curfew, Western Sydney has some advantage in being able to offer about 24/7 availability for flights to come in as well. So I think you'll see, you know, basically the demand had hit pretty much at Kingsford Smith with that capacity. That's why we needed a second airport. So you'll start to see an increase in flights coming out of Western Sydney International, but I would still expect Kingsford Smith will still be incredibly busy as well.

REUCASSEL: Just very quickly, we're about to hit the news. I mean, a lot of talk about the ACCC watching prices in fuel prices, not that the new powers have been passed yet, but is the ACCC also watching airline prices?

KING: Yeah, they absolutely are. They've been monitoring airline prices and are particularly ramping up that activity at the moment, obviously we do expect with fuel costs increasing that will be passed on in ticket prices, but they shouldn't be using it as an excuse to excessively increase price. So there's a lot of work being done by the ACCC just watching what's actually happening in airfares and the airlines are on notice in terms of that.

REUCASSEL: We'll look with interest to see what these airfares are for Western Sydney Airport when they come online. Thanks for speaking to us, Catherine.

KING: You're most welcome, Craig.

REUCASSEL: Federal Transport Minister Catherine King there.