Port Macquarie Airport
Port Macquarie Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Port Macquarie-Hastings Council | ||||||||||
| Serves | Port Macquarie, New South Wales | ||||||||||
| Hub for | Eastern Air Services | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 15 ft (4.6 m) | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 31°26′09″S 152°51′48″E / 31.43583°S 152.86333°E | ||||||||||
| Website | https://www.portmacquarieairport.com.au | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  YPMQ Location in New South Wales | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2023–24[1]) | |||||||||||
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| Sources: Australian AIP and aerodrome chart.[2] Passengers and aircraft movements from BITRE.[3] | |||||||||||
Port Macquarie Airport (IATA: PQQ, ICAO: YPMQ) is an airport in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. The airport is 2.25 nautical miles (4.17 km; 2.59 mi) west[2] of the city centre and is owned and managed by the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council on behalf of its owners – the constituents of the Hastings. The ownership is not to be confused with the Port Macquarie Airport Proprietary Limited. The airport had 226,932 revenue passengers making it the 33rd busiest in Australia in 2023–24.[4]
Airlines and destinations
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Eastern Air Services | Lord Howe Island[5] |
| QantasLink | Brisbane,[6] Sydney[6] |
| Rex Airlines | Sydney[7] |
Historically a number of airlines have flown to the airfield. These include:
Virgin Australia
On 4 February 2008, Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia) commenced direct scheduled services between Sydney and Port Macquarie. The flights operated daily in the morning. The service used to be operated by an Embraer E-170 aircraft, and was the first scheduled jet service for the airport. Connections were offered to all major Australian cities via Sydney. An increase to twice-daily service commenced 4 August 2008.[8]
Competition by Virgin resulted in a significant drop in fare prices for the Port Macquarie - Sydney route, where Qantas previously operated a monopoly after Hazelton Airlines ceased services in 2001.[9]
On 28 July 2011, Virgin Australia (in partnership with Skywest Airlines) announced its intention to commence a daily Brisbane to Port Macquarie service from October 2011. On 19 October 2011, Virgin Australia's ATR 72 departed on its first flight to Brisbane. The airline also announced that, as a result of the removal of Embraer 170 aircraft from its fleet, Sydney to Port Macquarie services would also be operated by ATR72 aircraft.[10][11]
Both routes have since been withdrawn due to the removal of ATR72 aircraft from the Virgin Australia fleet in 2020.
Aircraft operations
| Rank | Airport | Passengers | % change | Carriers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney | 166,595 |  0.5 |
Rex, QantasLink |
| 2 | Brisbane | no data yet | no data yet | QantasLink |
Connections to Brisbane (via Coffs Harbour) by Brindabella Airlines ceased 31 December 2010, citing poor loads on the route.[13] Despite this, Virgin Australia entered the route on 19 October 2011 as a daily service with their ATR72 aircraft.[11]
Statistics
See also
References
- ↑ Fiscal year 1 July – 30 June
- 1 2 YPMQ – Port Macquarie (PDF). AIP En Route Supplement from Airservices Australia, effective 9 July 2026, Aeronautical Chart Archived 11 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "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"
- ↑ "Airport Traffic Data 1985–86 to 2023–24—XLSX". Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE). 3 February 2025. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
- ↑ "About Us". Eastern Air Services. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
- 1 2 "QantasLink destinations". Qantas. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
- ↑ "Where we fly". Rex Airlines. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
- ↑ Virgin Blue > News and Press Releases Deprecated link archived 5 February 2013 at archive.today
- ↑ Virgin Blue > News and Press Releases Deprecated link archived 5 February 2013 at archive.today
- ↑ Virgin Australia to expand Regional Network (Blog) Archived 19 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- 1 2 Virgin Australia Expands Regional Network Adding Gladstone and Port Macquarie and Increased Canberra Services
- ↑ "Australian domestic aviation activity—time series: Top routes July 2014 - June 2026". Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE). 7 August 2026. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
- ↑ Brindabella Airlines to exit Port Macquarie Archived 17 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine