Ayers Rock Airport

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Ayers Rock Airport

Connellan Airport
Ayers Rock Airport Terminal building.jpeg
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorVoyages Indigenous Tourism Australia Pty Ltd
LocationYulara[1]
Elevation AMSL1,626 ft / 496 m
Coordinates25°11′10″S 130°58′32″E / 25.18611°S 130.97556°E / -25.18611; 130.97556Coordinates: 25°11′10″S 130°58′32″E / 25.18611°S 130.97556°E / -25.18611; 130.97556
Map
YAYE is located in Northern Territory
YAYE
YAYE
Location in the Northern Territory
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
13/31 2,599 8,527 Asphalt
Statistics (2010-11[2])
Passengers309,089
Aircraft movements4,017
Sources: Australian AIP and aerodrome chart[3] Passengers and movements from BITRE[4]

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[]

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

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Place Names Register Extract for "Connellan Airport"". NT Place Names Register. Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  2. ^ Fiscal year 1 July - 30 June
  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
  4. ^ 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"
  5. ^ "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

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