Whyalla Airport is an airport located southwest of

Whyalla Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta i ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Background

The Corporation of the City of Whyalla has operated the airport since 1991 when it was handed over by the

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. By 2009, the main runway's

Pavement Classification Number The Aircraft Classification Number (ACN) – Pavement Classification Number (PCN) method is a standardized international airport pavement rating system promulgated by the ICAO in 1981. The method has been the official ICAO pavement rating system f ...

(PCN) had deteriorated to an 8, which stopped all heavy aircraft, such as the

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 ...

and

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 ...

, from using the airport. The airport remained open for use by the

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C-130 Hercules transport aircraft until the late 1990s. The City of Whyalla, aware of the accelerating damage caused by

C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 ...

operations, asked the Federal Government for financial assistance in upgrading the main runway to accommodate unrestricted C-130 operations. The idea was for the airport to accommodate medium-sized commercial jets as well as the

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(RAAF) aircraft. The government declined to offer the City of Whyalla financial assistance to upgrade the main runway. In response, Mayor John Smith stopped all C-130 operations in Whyalla, causing the RAAF to use either

RAAF Woomera Airfield RAAF Base Woomera (WMA), was proclaimed by Chief of Air Force Directive in January 2015. RAAF Base Woomera and the RAAF Woomera Test Range (WTR) are the two formations which make up the RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC). RAAF Base Woomera consi ...

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to fly in troops and supplies for the nearby Cultana Training Area. In 2004, Qantas requested permission to land a Boeing 767 at Whyalla Airport as both Adelaide and

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airports were closed due to fog. Council made the runway available should Qantas need it, but only on the understanding that the Boeing may not be able to take off again. The Qantas Boeing 767 made it safely to its intended destination, but the whole incident highlighted the need for Whyalla to upgrade its main runway to safely accommodate such aircraft in the future. In 2008, the main runway remained substandard for anything other than

Saab 340 The Saab 340 is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30-36 passengers and, as of July 2018, there were 240 operational aircraft used by 34 different o ...

use or lower. Whyalla Airport found itself in a difficult position in 2009 as the South Australian mining boom got underway. The city would make an ideal fly in/fly out location for the new mines, but lacks the infrastructure to accommodate commercial jets. The City of Whyalla lacks the funds to initiate an upgrade of the main runway and both the Australian and

State Governments A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, ...

are reluctant to financially help out, regardless of which political party is in power. On Wednesday, 17 September 2008, it was announced that the City of Whyalla were investigating spending over A$4 million on upgrading the airport to accept Boeing 737 aircraft. The study is to determine if the airport upgrade is economically feasible. The study will also look at funding options. As of February 2012, Council does not have the required $4.5 million for the pavement upgrade, but has some plans to improve the terminal facilities. It is hoped some grants will be made available for the upgrade via both the Australian and State Governments. One source of funding the council is looking at is selling some of the airport land (of which there is plenty surrounding the actual airport itself) to raise the required funds. In 2009, Council started the process of handing over the day-to-day running of the airport to another company. This company is conducting its feasibility study and an answer was expected by August 2009. However, the airport was still operated by the Corporation of the City of Whyalla in July 2012. A refurbished terminal was completed in mid 2014, with this upgrade allowing Qantaslink to begin services to the airport from April the following year.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Whyalla Airport was ranked 51st 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 ...

2010–2011. Refers to "Regular Public Transport (RPT) operations only"

Accidents and incidents

*On 31 May 2000, a Piper PA-31-350 aircraft, registration VH-MZK, operated by Whyalla Airlines on flight WW904 crashed in the Spencer Gulf en route from Adelaide to Whyalla. The pilot and seven passengers were killed in the accident. The pilot radioed a mayday transmission when approximately from Whyalla advising

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

he intended to ditch the aircraft in the water if he could not make Whyalla Airport. The last reported position was from the airport. The subsequent investigation conducted by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the aircraft had suffered component failures in both of its engines.

References

External links