Perth International Airport (PER) traces its origins to a wartime RAAF base established in 1942 on the former Dunreath golf course at Guildford, on the eastern edge of the Perth metropolitan area. Full civilian operations began in 1944, and in September 1952 the site was formally renamed Perth Airport. On February 1, 1962, a Qantas Boeing 707 named "City of Perth" operated the first scheduled jet service into the airport, bringing Western Australia into the international jet age. That same year, a new combined domestic and international terminal opened, timed to coincide with the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, which Perth hosted.

Today, PER is the 4th busiest airport in Australia, handling over 14 million revenue passengers in the 2024-25 financial year. It is the only airport with regular international flights in Western Australia, making it the unavoidable hub for a state that spans more than 2.6 million square kilometres. The airport has 2 asphalt runways, the primary north-south strip (03/21) extending 3,444 metres, and covers a 2,105-hectare estate under a 99-year lease held by Perth Airport Pty Ltd since 1997. Its current international terminal opened on 25 October 1986, unveiled by Prime Minister Bob Hawke at a cost of A$60 million.

Qantas uses PER as a western hub for long-haul operations, including nonstop services to London, Paris, Rome, Singapore, Johannesburg, and Auckland. The airport's geographic position, closer to Singapore than to Sydney, makes it a natural staging point for flights between Australia and Europe. Regional traffic is equally defining: services to Western Australia's remote mining communities generate a substantial share of all aircraft movements, a reflection of the state's resources economy as much as its geography.