Gladstone Airport is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

serving Gladstone, a city in the Australian

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. It is located in the suburb of Clinton, about from the town's centre, off Aerodrome Road. The airport is owned and operated by the

Gladstone Regional Council Gladstone Region is a local government area in Queensland, Australia. The council covers an area of , had an estimated resident population at 30 June 2018 of 62,979, and has an estimated operating budget of A$84 million. History Gladstone Reg ...

which took control of it by operation of the Local Government Reform when the Gladstone-Calliope Aerodrome Board was dissolved on 15 March 2007. The main supplier of scheduled passenger air services is QantasLink, a subsidiary of

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

, with most services non-stop to, or from Brisbane Airport.

Virgin Australia Virgin Australia, the trading name of Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd, is an Australian-based airline. It is the largest airline by fleet size to use the Virgin brand. It commenced services on 31 August 2000 as ''Virgin Blue'', with two ...

commenced services to Brisbane 17 October 2011. They further announced at the launch of flights that a third-daily service would be added to the route from 16 January 2011. This has further been increased to six week-daily services since early 2013 mostly on

ATR 72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed ...

aircraft with the

Embraer 190 The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast narrow-body short- to medium-range twin-engine jet airliners designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer. The E-Jet was designed as a complement to the preceding ...

and the

Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boein ...

also making regular appearances in the schedule. As of 17 July 2017 Alliance airlines has started to make 34 jet services between Gladstone and Brisbane. As of March 2008, QantasLink was scheduled to operate about 38 return services per week (i.e. about 76 aircraft movements) between Gladstone and Brisbane using

Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

aircraft with seating from 50 to 74 passengers. In addition, a small number of flights operate northwards to Rockhampton,

Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airpor ...

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

and Cairns. The Gladstone Regional Council commenced an upgrade of the airport in 2008. The council announced that the airport would not shut down during the upgrade. In 2011 the late and liquidated Air Australia known as Strategic Airlines at the time began regular flights from Brisbane Airport and back with their

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

fleet; this only lasted around 4–5 months before ceasing operations to Gladstone due to the low number of passengers on each flight causing the airline to lose money. In 2017

Cobham Aviation Services Australia Cobham Aviation Services may refer to several Australian aviation companies formerly owned by Cobham: * National Jet Express (formerly Cobham Aviation Services Australia - Regional Services), a charter airline and aviation services provider that wa ...

Boeing 717 The Boeing 717 is an American five-abreast single-aisle airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The twin-engine airliner was developed for the 100-seat market and originally marketed by McDonnell Douglas as the MD-95. It was a shor ...

fleet began ceasing daily flights to the regional town due to higher demands in longer domestic route and also due to passenger numbers reducing after the mining boom from 2012 to 2016, because this

Sunstate Airlines Sunstate Airlines is a subsidiary of Qantas which operates regional flights under the QantasLink banner throughout Queensland, and between Brisbane Airport, Brisbane and Canberra Airport, Canberra. Its head office is in Bowen Hills, Brisbane. ...

and Qantaslink had to increase operations to Gladstone to 6 daily flights. After this Cobham only flew in to fill for any Q400 flights that had issues or increased passenger numbers. In February 2022,

Bonza Bonza Aviation Pty Ltd, operating as Bonza, is an Australian low-cost airline, headquartered on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sunshine Coast. Bonza commenced operations on 31 January 2023. History Background Bonza was founded in October 2021 ...

announced that the airport would become one of its 17 destinations with the airline planning to fly to Melbourne from Gladstone

Facilities

The airport resides at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. It has 4 parking stands using a state of the art double level parking bay design, able to hold from Q200s to 737s, it also has a large GA parking areas to the west of the main terminal. It has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

designated 10/28 with an

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

surface measuring , able to hold up to a

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

or an

Airlines and destinations

Ground transport

Buses operate between the town centre and the airport, but are only operational from Monday to Friday between 6am and 6pm. Taxis are also available, as are rental cars.

Statistics

Gladstone Airport was ranked 27th in Australia for the number of

revenue passenger A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...

s served in

financial year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

Fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

1 July – 30 June 2010–2011. Refers to "Regular Public Transport (RPT) operations only"

References

External links