page_title: Sydney Airport
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Sydney Airport / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Sydney Airport's control tower
context_page_description: Sydney Airport is an international airport in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia located 8 km south of the Sydney city centre, in the suburb of Mascot. The airport is owned by the ASX-listed Sydney Airport Group. It is the primary airport serving Sydney, and is a primary hub for Qantas, as well as a secondary hub for Virgin Australia and Jetstar, as well as a focus city for Air New Zealand. Situated next to Botany Bay, the airport has three runways, colloquially known as the east–west, north–south and third runways.
  Sydney Airport is one of the world's longest continuously operated commercial airports and the busiest airport in Australia, handling 42.6 million passengers and 348,904 aircraft movements in 2016–17. It was the 38th busiest airport in the world in 2016. Currently 46 domestic and 43 international destinations are served to Sydney directly.
  In 2018, the airport was rated in the top five worldwide for airports handling 40–50 million passengers annually and was overall voted the 20th best airport in the world at the Skytrax World Airport Awards.
  The airport's Air Traffic Control Tower is listed on the Commonwealth Heritage List.
caption: Control tower
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