The Daily Telegraph can reveal a final submission to give the go-ahead for an airport at Badgerys Creek will go to a Cabinet meeting in Canberra today undefined with the Prime Minister’s endorsement.

The approval will be part of an unprecedented $10 billion, 10-year infrastructure plan centred on Western Sydney. But the airport will only be one element of the package for Western Sydney involving federal government, state government and private sector funding expected to be announced later this week, and rolled out concurrently.

The proposal will also have the strong backing and recommendation of Treasurer Joe Hockey and Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, who will present the submission.

It is believed approval will be given for an initial single runway configuration with a slow build-up of flights. Capacity would be built into the precinct to even expand to a parallel runway operation, if and when needed.

The first flights in and out of the airport are not expected until the mid-2020s with a 10-year horizon on its construction and a long planning and consultation period before a final configuration is decided upon.

Lindsay Liberal MP Fiona Scott said it was important the details of the airport were worked out with the community in mind, saying she did support a curfew.

“What happens with the people in the eastern suburbs should be exactly the same as what happens to the people in the western suburbs,’’ she told Sky News.

She said her success at the next election would be determined by how well she listened to the community’s concerns.

Labor frontbencher Brendan O’Connor said the opposition supported the concept but wanted to see the details before giving a fuller response.

“This is long overdue. It’s something that needs to be done,’’ he told Sky News.

“It’s not just a Sydney matter, it’s for the nation. It’s our largest airport and therefore it’s critical that we eventually determine this second airport.

“But we’d like to see the detail. We’d like to see what is in store for Sydneysiders. And I guess we will await the details so we can respond more fully.’’

Government minister Eric Abetz said he was not going to speculate on what would be announced but that an infrastructure package would have to accompany any airport plans.

New modelling by the Department of Transport and Infrastructure, which is believed to form part of the submission and revealed to The Daily Telegraph, estimates 4000 jobs will be created in Western Sydney during the initial construction phase.

By 2035 the employment boom generated by the airport will add 35,000 more jobs through the airport’s operations, businesses and industry.

This new employment in Western Sydney figure is forecast to rise to 60,000 jobs over time, the new updated modelling has estimated.

The projections outline an airport that by 2060 could be servicing between 70 and 100 flights a day and more than 600,000 inbound and outbound passengers a year.

It will be pitched by the federal government as a national economic project which will add another $24 billion in economic activity to the nation’s GDP.

It is understood Mr Abbott, after extensive consultation with nervous Western Sydney MPs, refused to approve the airport unless it was part of a broader infrastructure plan for western Sydney.

The initial plan for a $200 million capital works package to upgrade local roads and rail around the airport is believed to have been scrapped for the more significant infrastructure plan for the entire Western Sydney region.

The airport is expected to generate demand from airlines, through domestic, international and freight air traffic.

In February, Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten and State Labor leader John Robertson publicly announced in The Daily Telegraph their bipartisan support to build a second airport at Badgerys Creek subject to curfew restrictions.

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell also threw his support behind the proposal after having opposed a second airport in the Sydney basin in favour of a fast train link with Canberra Airport. A secret report commissioned by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet confirmed almost a year ago, on the advice of then infrastructure minister Anthony Albanese, an overwhelming majority wanted a second airport at Badgerys Creek.

Source: The Daily Telegraph by Simon Benson. Full and original article.