Flag carrier Qantas is on an apparent collision course with the New South Wales (NSW) government insofar as the construction of a second Sydney airport is concerned.

Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce is pushing for the construction of the second gateway at Badgerys Creek, while NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell is against the idea of building a second airport during his term due to aircraft noise the gateway would generate.

Mr Joyce, in an article for The Daily Telegraph, justified the push for a second gateway to alleviate the suffering of air passengers who are inconvenienced by peak-hour bottlenecks at Sydney Airport. He stressed that jet noise has been reduced to half in the past decade and would even be further cut until it would not even be an issue.

"We cannot judge today's aircraft by the standards of the 1980s and 1990s.... Aircraft flying today are only half as loud as those of 10 years ago and the Qantas fleet is younger and quieter that it has even been before," Mr Joyce wrote.

He added that by 2030, new jets would be even quieter than current models. By combining planning controls and good air traffic control, aircraft noise would cease to be an issue, Mr Joyce insisted. He cited the Airbus A380 whose noise is only half of the Boeing 747, the jet's predecessor, an even higher 60 per cent noise reduction for the Boeing 787 versus the Boeing 767, and 75 per cent less noise for the A320neo compared with the current A320s.

Qantas has 12 A380s in its fleet, which is the same model used by other air carriers that also fly to Sydney such as Emirates and Singapore Airlines. Qantas has ordered 50 787s and 78 A320neos.

Despite the release of a joint federal-state 3,200-page study on a second airport with the findings that jet noises had been reduced significantly, Mr O'Farrell is adamant in his stand and would rather expand the Canberra Airport and build a high-speed rail system to the capital city.

The report said Canberra and Newcastle are too far from Sydney, Bankstown and Richmond could only play small roles, while Wilton - located southwest of Sydney - is the next strongest option.

Unless work starts now, the study warned that by 2014, during morning peaks, the queue at General Holmes Drive to the domestic terminals would be four kilometers long and more than three kilometers for the Airport Drive road.

"I don't think Canberra works as an alternative, it's too far away, it's over 280 km (away). I come from Ireland, where Ryanair takes pleasure in finding secondary airports miles away from airports in the city... but I don't even think Ryanair would go 280 km away," Mr Joyce countered.

Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese sided with Qantas in pushing for a second Sydney airport, but the premier criticised the federal government for failure to promise funds to address the infrastructure that Qantas seeks whether it would be built in Sydney or other Australian cities.

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