On the eve of opening the first stage of the new $350 million airport Mr Byron imagines gold-medal winning Olympians returning home to Canberra first, with the Prime Minister and national media awaiting them.

Capable of hosting the A380, the world's largest airliner, the new airport will present a compelling case for high-speed rail.

Mr Byron said the new airport would elevate Canberra to a national city and be pivotal to a national logistics and spare parts capital. International flights would start in two years.

Canberra was at a tipping point and could either swell to a population of more than 900,000 with well planned infrastructure or be left to find its own way.

Asked how best to convince governments to share his national city vision Mr Byron said the new airport would show the way. ''This is a bit of a Canberra thing we're just going to build it and just show them,'' he said.

''When we open this terminal people are going to wake up.

''Every day when people come to Canberra and see the difference they will start to understand the nature of the infrastructure asset we have here.''

What was little more than a shed in 1998 surrounded by sheep paddocks would become the world's best small airport.

For more on this story, including details of a draft new local environmental plan's public exhibition for Tralee, see the print edition of today's Canberra Times.