Townsville Airport

Townsville Airport, is a major Australian regional airport that services the city of Townsville. The airport is also known as Townsville International Airport, and Garbutt Airport, a reference to its location in the Townsville suburb of Garbutt. Townsville Airport is serviced by major Australian domestic and regional airlines, and in 2009/10 handled 1,597,845  passengers making it the 11th busiest airport in Australia.

Townsville International Airport is a common-user civilian and defence facility, sharing access with RAAF Base Townsville. It is used as a staging point for Australian Defence Force (ADF) operations within Australia and internationally. The aerodrome has also been used for coordination of relief efforts following Tropical Cyclones and other natural disasters, notably Cyclone Larry in 2006.

Townsville Airport was the first Australian regional city airport to be granted international airport status commencing in 1980. International traffic grew substantially through the early 1980s then receded however as a result of airline market restructuring, and significant competetion with Cairns Airport for regional tourism. The airport then suffered an extended hiatus from handling direct civil international flights with the final Qantas international service in 2002, between Townsville and Singapore via Brisbane using a Boeing 767. From December 2010, the city will again have direct international flights flown by Strategic Airlines, initially to Bali Denpasar Airport . The airport maintains customs capacity and the potential for expanded international services.

The airport is the Northern Australian focus city for Virgin Blue, and has developed an aerospace precinct attracting major civil and military maintenance activities.

The airport is located 5 km from the Townsville CBD.

History of the airport

The first Airport was established in the 1920s in the Thuringowa Shire south of the Ross River, in what is now the suburb of Murray. It was licensed as a civil airport by the Civil Aviation Branch in 1930, but it was never very satisfactory, as the ground was boggy for much of the year, and there was only room for one east-west runway. In 1938 a larger site was selected within the City of Townsville on the Town Common, adjacent to Ingham Road and the North Coast Railway. Two 800 yard gravel runways were constructed, and the new Townsville Airport officially opened on its present site on 1 February 1939.

The Department of Defence was looking for military airfield sites in northern Australia at the time, and almost immediately Townsville Airport was planned for expansion as a RAAF base for three fighter squadrons. The plans were scaled back to one squadron, and RAAF Base Townsville was built alongside the civil airport in early 1940. In October 1940, Number 24 Squadron, flying CA-25 Wirraways, became the first operational unit to occupy the base. A year later the airfield was greatly expanded to take USAAC bombers and transport aircraft reinforcing the Philippines. All three runways were sealed, and the south-east runway was extended to 5,000 feet to take the heavier aircraft. The work was nearly finished in early December 1941 when the Pacific War began.

During 1942, the defence establishment in the Townsville region increased enormously, and five other military airfields were built in the Immediate vicinity of Townsville. To avoid confusion, RAAF Base Townsville was renamed RAAF Base Garbutt, the name of the nearby railway siding, where there were stockyards owned by Garbutt Brothers, wholesale butchers. The civil airport continued to operate during the war, and retained the name Townsville Airport. RAAF Base Garbutt was renamed RAAF Base Townsville in 1951.

Townsville Airport experienced a progressive increase in passenger numbers and aircraft movements after World War II, with services operated by Qantas, Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), Australian National Airways (ANA) and Ansett Australia (Ansett) to Brisbane, however it wasn't until the mid 1960s that airport growth really accelerated. During that period TAA and Ansett — ANA received numerous jet aircraft, particularly Boeing 727 and DC-9. Following that period of rapid growth, Townsville was developed as a regional hub for both airlines during the 1970s.

In April 1980, Sir Rupert Murdoch and Sir Peter Abeles, the new owners of Ansett, were petitioning the Federal Government for international flights to begin in some regional centres of Australia. On 18 April 1980, the inaugural Townsville-Singapore flight departed, operated by Ansett, one of the first international flights Ansett had ever operated. In the same year, Townsville Airport was given $13m by the government-owned operator, Federal Airports Corporation, to construct and build a new state-of-the-art international terminal, and in 1981, it was opened with the arrival of a Qantas Boeing 747.

With the new demand for international services, Townsville became the first regional Australian airport to offer direct long-distance international flights. Airlines providing direct services included Qantas, Ansett, Continental Micronesia, Garuda Indonesia, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines (JAL). Destinations in Asia included Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong; Auckland and Honolulu in the Pacific; and the North American cities of San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The American flights reflected the significant tourism demand between the United States and Australia at the time. Today many of these services would be considered unrealistic for regional airports, as evidenced by the gradual withdrawal of services from Townsville.

The airport was expanded again in 1987 when a redevelopment of the international terminal opened to cater for domestic traffic. In 1989, the Australian aviation industry was in a crisis with the pilots dispute ceasing nearly all domestic flights in the country. Throughout the period of the strike some international flights continued, and by 1991 most domestic services had returned to normal.

During the 1990s a new crisis was looming for Townsville International Airport. The airlines began to explore rationalising services in North Queensland. Load factors on international flights were increasing however the number of services was steadily diminishing. The friendly rivalry between Townsville and Cairns with respect to hosting international flights was becoming more serious as the airlines started to rationalise services. Cairns International Airport campaigned with a major proposal for improved airport facilities, including a separate international terminal capable of accommodating significantly greater passenger numbers than Townsville's terminal and Cairns' original terminal. In 1993 when Cairns' new terminal opened, all the airlines, except Qantas, Ansett, Cathay Pacific and Garuda, stopped international flights to Townsville, and eventually by 1995 the remaining airlines ceased international flights to Townsville.

Townsville's International Aerobridge and gate. It was opened in 1981, and in recent years has been used infrequently for regular passenger flights as international flights scaled back

In the mid 1990s domestic flights started to decrease, with some services being cut back by Qantas and Ansett. Qantas began to retire the aircraft type in use on the route to Sydney which resulted in a decrease in services to that city. Services also received a giant drop when Ansett was placed into voluntary liquidation in late 2001. Approximately 40% of Townsville's flights and capacity to Brisbane were cut because of Ansett's financial collapse. The same year also represented the start of a new era in domestic travel for Townsville International Airport: in February 2001, Virgin Blue made Townsville its first regional destination, and passenger figures rose by 25% that year. Then in June 2001, Qantas announced that the airline would resume international services to Singapore in September. In August, Qantas announced that it would resume Townsville-Sydney services using Boeing 717 aircraft acquired when Qantas bought out Impulse Airlines. When Ansett collapsed, Qantas and Virgin expanded services to exploit the gap that Ansett left.

In August 2002, Qantas ceased the services to Singapore, which had been at times circuitously routed via southern airports such as Brisbane, due to lack of demand. The services had represented the first time since 1994 that a Boeing 747 was used on regular service to Townsville. Despite the loss of international services, Virgin Blue, Qantas and a new airline, Alliance Airlines were increasing domestic flights to Townsville, bringing more passengers to the city and increasing domestic tourism to Townsville. Also that year, Australian Airports Ltd announced that Townsville domestic terminal would receive a State-of-the-art upgrade and the new redevelopment would open in October 2003.

The redevelopment was scheduled to open October 2003 to coincide with the hosting of three Rugby World Cup matches in Townsville, however delays beset the project and the redevelopment finally opened in December 2003. The first arrival was the scheduled Qantas 737 from Brisbane arriving at 10pm. The aircraft overnighted and departed around 6am the next morning, thus making it also the first departure from the new concourse.

In 2009, Air force Two did a touch-and-go.

Passenger airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations

Alliance Airlines Cloncurry

Mining Charter: Cannington Mine, Century Mine, Phosphate Hill Mine

Jetstar Airways Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney

Qantas Brisbane

Qantas operated by QantasLink Cairns, Cloncurry, Gladstone, Mackay, Mount Isa, Rockhampton

Regional Express Hughenden, Julia Creek, Longreach, Mount Isa, Richmond, Winton

Mining Charter: Osbourne Mine, Mount Dore

Skytrans Airlines Cairns, Palm Island

Strategic Airlines Brisbane, Denpasar/Bali 

Virgin Blue Brisbane, Canberra, Cairns, Gold Coast, Rockhampton, Sydney

Cargo airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations

Australian air Express Brisbane, Cairns

HeavyLift Honiara, Darwin (Defence charters)

Accidents and incidents

On 6 September 1971, Douglas C-47B A65-73 of the Royal Australian Air Force was damaged beyond economic repair in an accident at Townsville Airport.

Operations

Busiest Domestic Routes out of Townsville Airport

(Year Ending September 2010)

Rank Airport Passengers carried % Change

1 Queensland Brisbane Airport 929,300 3.8

2 Queensland Cairns Airport 174,900 13.3

3 New South Wales Sydney Airport 168,600 0.1

Busiest Domestic Routes out of Townsville Airport

(Month of September 2010)

Rank Airport Passengers carried % Change

1 Queensland Brisbane Airport 83,700 3.8

2 Queensland Cairns Airport 16,400 14.7

3 New South Wales Sydney Airport 14,800 1.1

Terminals and facilities

Layout

Inside the Departures/Arrivals lounge at Townsville International Airport

Townsville International Airport has an integrated terminal building, with the Southern concourse the international terminal, and the Northern concourse the domestic terminal. The terminal has four aerobridges (1 international, 3 domestic) and three ground level tarmac departure / arrival gates for regional flights at the Northern end of the terminal.

Redevelopment

In October 2002, redevelopment started on the domestic terminal. It was officially opened on the 12 December 2003. The redevelopment was part of a broader modernisation program for the airport.

The project included a new common user departures and arrivals lounge, new modern check-in facilities for Qantas and QantasLink, a new Qantas Club adjacent to the new departures lounge, new retail stores and airside retail space, a new mezzanine level with departure lounges, and three aerobridges for aircraft up to the size of Boeing 767 aircraft.

On the 13 December 2003, an "Open Day" was held for Townsville residents to view the new look airport. Later that evening, a Qantas flight from Brisbane became the first arrival to use the new departures/arrivals lounges, and after overnighting in Townsville also became the first departure at 6:05 am (AEST) 14 December 2003, returning to Brisbane.

In 2008 another upgrade project was completed, with an improvement of the check-in desks of the current airlines and an extra two desks built for Virgin Blue. Two of the four entrances into the terminal were redeveloped to improve passenger access, and further upgrades were made to retail space.

Qantas maintains a Qantas Club lounge in the airport terminal, with access for Qantas Club and affiliate members.

Transport

The terminal is serviced by bus (Sunbus Route 5/5A), with regular connections to the CBD, Strand and Ferry terminals (Magnetic Island and Great Barrier Reef departures / arrivals).

A taxi rank is located at the Northern end of the terminal. A $2 surcharge applies to all airport pick-ups. Limousine and executive car hire is also available.

Car parking is available adjacent to the terminal precinct. It includes short stay, long term, and easy access long-term parking. Time-limited passenger drop-off and pick-up areas are in front of the terminal area.

Aerospace activities

NAACEX or the Northern Australian Aerospace Centre of Excellence is an Aviation business park, located at Townsville Airport, that was announced by Queensland Airports Ltd is February 2007. The precinct is one of many being set up at airports around Australia, and is the first of its kind in Northern Australia. The centre opened in late-2007, with tenants BAE Systems and Worland Aviation starting operations in the new hangars (Stage 1 of the project) built just north of the Terminal.

Future

Jetstar started services on 30 October 2005, with direct links to Brisbane, Sydney and from April 2009 for the first time Melbourne.

In 2007 Singapore Airlines' offshoot carrier Tiger Airways announced that services to Townsville from Darwin were 'on the radar' and if initiated, fares could be as low as $60 (AUD). The service was planned to complement Tiger's existing Darwin — Singapore route. Since this time however Tiger Airways has restructured its focus on Darwin operations, leaving further route development in doubt. 

On 6 April 2009, Virgin Blue launched daily flights to Cairns, Canberra, Rockhampton and Gold Coast/Coolangatta directly utilising their Embraer E-Jets It was also hinted that international services (possibly to New Zealand) may be launched out of the airport by the airline as it further establishes a base at the airport, and further expansion of domestic services could include Melbourne and Darwin. The introduction of Embraer E-jets to the Virgin Blue fleet during 2007-08 provided further opportunities to link the city with other regional and capital city destinations that are currently unviable with larger Boeing 737 aircraft.

On 16 September 2010 Strategic Airlines announced services to Brisbane, and the reinstatement of direct international services from Townsville to Bali (Denpasar).