A 40-year-old Queensland woman died and six others were injured in a tragic head-on collision of two cars near Perth Airport.

PerthNow reported the crash happened at about 9:00 pm on New Year's night on Dunreath Drive, which runs between the international and domestic airports.

A white Holden Commodore and a gold Holden Commodore were involved in the crash. The accident caused one of the cars to blaze.

Police spokesman Samuel Dinnison told PerthNow that it seemed the white Commodore, in which the casualty was a passenger, was travelling north when it attempted to overtake a slower-moving truck. The white vehicle must have failed to spot the south-bound gold Commodore, and it resulted in the deadly crash.

Four other people in the white car - a 29-year-old man, a 31-year-old man, a 32-year-old man, and a six-year-old boy - sustained serious injuries.

A 53-year-old man and 49-year-old woman travelling in the gold car were also injured, and they were all rushed to the nearest hospital.

The woman's death is the first WA fatality for 2012, but it brings the national Christmas-New Year road toll to 45, PerthNow reported.

Authorities have yet to release final results of the investigation, although initial speculation points at the cars' respective speed on the road.