Ayers Rock Airport

Ayers Rock Airport

Connellan Airport
Ayers Rock Airport; Connellan Airport
	IATA: AYQ; ICAO: YAYE;
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia Pty Ltd
Location	Yulara
Elevation AMSL	1,626 ft / 496 m
Coordinates	25°11′10″S 130°58′32″E / 25.18611°S 130.97556°ECoordinates: 25°11′10″S 130°58′32″E / 25.18611°S 130.97556°E
Map
	YAYE Location in the Northern Territory
Runways
Statistics (2010-11)
Passengers
Passengers	309,089
Aircraft movements	4,017
	Sources: Australian AIP and aerodrome chart Passengers and movements from BITRE

Ayers Rock Airport (also known as Connellan Airport) (IATA: AYQ, ICAO: YAYE) is situated near Yulara, around 463 km (288 mi) (5 hrs drive) away from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, and 20 minutes drive from Uluru (Ayers Rock) itself. An average of just under 300,000 passengers pass through this airport each year.^[4]

History[]

The original Connellan Airport at Uluru was provided by Edward Connellan, who founded Connellan Airways in 1942. The development of tourism infrastructure adjacent to the base of Uluru that began in the 1950s soon created adverse environmental impacts. It was decided in the early 1970s to remove all accommodation-related tourist facilities from near the base of Uluru and re-establish them outside the national park. In 1975, a reservation of 104 km² (40 sq mi) of land beyond the national park's northern boundary, 15 km (9.3 mi) from Uluru, was approved for the development of a tourist facility, to be known as Yulara, along with a new airport. The new facilities became fully operational in late 1984. The airport was featured in a 1998 episode of Tots TV called Airport. On 6 August 2000, an Ansett Australia Airbus A320 arrived from Auckland Airport in New Zealand, carrying the Sydney Olympic Torch for its inaugural Australian leg. From there, the torch was taken for a run around Uluru, followed by a formal reception. Virgin Australia at the time Virgin Blue announced in March 2010 that the airline would start flying to Uluru flights later commenced from Sydney in August 2010 which also marked the airline’s first flight into the red centre operated by Embraer E-190s. In September 2020 Virgin Australia revealed it had dropped 7 regional destinations one of them being Uluru. Qantas announced in February 2013 that Jetstar would take over Qantas mainline's Sydney service in April 2013 Jetstar later launched flights from Melbourne Airport in June 2014 and Brisbane Airport in August 2018. Qantas announced in November 2018 that Qantas mainline would return in April 2019 along with 2 news routes from Adelaide Airport and Darwin Airport in May 2021 Qantas revealed that the airline will resume its Sydney flights for the first time since April 2013 in March 2022. QantasLink also has flights from Cairns Airport and Alice Springs Airport.

Facilities[]

Ayers Rock Airport has one main terminal for scheduled flights. The runway at Ayers Rock Airport is 2,599 m × 30 m (8,527 ft × 98 ft). It has a simple, single stage lighting system and T-VASIS. The largest aircraft that Ayers Rock Airport caters for used to be Boeing 737-800s operated by Qantas and previously Virgin Australia.

Airlines and destinations[]

Airlines	Destinations
Jetstar Airways	Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney
Qantas	Adelaide, Darwin, Sydney (resumes 27 March 2022)^[5]
QantasLink	Alice Springs, Cairns

References[]

^ "Place Names Register Extract for "Connellan Airport"". NT Place Names Register. Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
^ Fiscal year 1 July - 30 June
^ YAYE – Ayers Rock/Connellan (PDF). AIP En Route Supplement from Airservices Australia, effective 2 Dec 2021, Aeronautical Chart Archived 10 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b "Airport Traffic Data 1985-86 to 2010-11". Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE). May 2012. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012. Refers to "Regular Public Transport (RPT) operations only"
^ "Qantas adds seven routes, increases widebody flying". RoutesOnline. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.

External links[]

Media related to Ayers Rock Airport at Wikimedia Commons

[1] "Place Names Register Extract for "Connellan Airport"". NT Place Names Register. Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 15 June 2019.

[fiscal-2] Fiscal year 1 July - 30 June

[AIP-3] YAYE – Ayers Rock/Connellan (PDF). AIP En Route Supplement from Airservices Australia, effective 2 Dec 2021, Aeronautical Chart Archived 10 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine

[BITRE-4] "Airport Traffic Data 1985-86 to 2010-11". Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE). May 2012. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012. Refers to "Regular Public Transport (RPT) operations only"

[5] "Qantas adds seven routes, increases widebody flying". RoutesOnline. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.

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External territories	Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Norfolk Island Wilkins
This lists airports in Australia with scheduled passenger services. Statistics

v t Airports in the Northern Territory
Public airports	Alice Springs Ayers Rock Bathurst Island Borroloola Croker Island Darwin Elcho Island Garden Point Gove Groote Eylandt Hooker Creek Kalkgurung Lake Evella Maningrida Milingimbi Ngukurr Numbulwar Oenpelli Port Keats Ramingining Smith Point Snake Bay South Goulburn Island Tennant Creek Ti-Tree Yuendumu
Private airports	Emkaytee Jabiru McArthur River The Granites Victoria River Downs
Military airports	Darwin Tindal
Defunct airports	Batchelor Coomalie Creek Daly Waters Fenton Gorrie Gould Hughes Katherine Livingstone Long MacDonald Manbulloo Parap Pell Pine Creek Sattler Strauss
Related	New South Wales Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia Territories of Australia