Alice Springs Airport
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| Alice Springs Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| IATA: ASP - ICAO: YBAS | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Alice Springs Airport Pty Ltd | ||
| Serves | Alice Springs | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,788 ft (545 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 12/30 | 7,998 | 2,438 | Asphalt |
| 06/24 | 3,375 | 1,029 | Asphalt |
| 17/35 | 3,717 | 1,133 | Asphalt |
Alice Springs Airport (IATA: ASP, ICAO: YBAS) is a small regional airport 14 kilometres south of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The airport has three runways, the largest of which can accommodate a Boeing 747 or 777 landing (but not a fully laden takeoff due to high temperatures and the runway length). The only scheduled flights using the airport are domestic, although international charters do use the airport on occasions. The airport is not subject to a curfew and operates 24 hours a day.
Contents |
[edit] Airlines
Qantas (Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, Sydney)
- QantasLink (Ayers Rock/Uluru, Cairns, Perth)
[edit] History
On 5 October 1921 the first aircraft landed at the original airport located in the Alice Springs township. Connellan Airways (later to become Connair) was based here from 1939. The military buildup in the north of Australia in the late 1930s saw the need for an airport that could take larger and heavier aircraft. This led to the construction of Seven Mile Aerodrome and the diminished role of the Town Site Drome from 1946 until its eventual abandonment in 1968. It is now the site of the Central Australian Aviation Museum.
Seven Mile Aerodrome was originally built in 1940 by the Australian Department of Defence and was used primarily by the Royal Australian Air Force and the United States Air Force, to bring troops and supplies into the area. The airport became the main transit base for RAAF transport planes during World War II. Several civilian aircraft were permitted at the airport, but during the war its primary purpose was military as a refuelling and staging facility, as the airport was strategically located near the Pacific Theater of Operations.
In 1958 it officially became Alice Springs Airport. The main runway was extended to its present length of 2438 metres in 1961.
[edit] 1972 hijacking
Alice Springs Airport was the site of the resolution of Australia's first domestic aircraft hijacking. On 15 November 1972, an Ansett Fokker F27 Friendship was hijacked after taking off from Adelaide International Airport. The hijacker, Miloslav Hrabinec, threatened the pilot with a rifle and demanded to be given a parachute and flown to the desert. He was convinced to allow the plane to land at Alice Springs, where he engaged in a shoot-out with Northern Territory Police, critically wounding a police officer before shooting himself in the head.
[edit] 1977 suicide pilot
Tragedy struck the airport again on 5 January 1977, when a former employee of Connair (formerly Connellan Airways) stole a plane and flew it into the Connair offices located at the airport, killing himself and two of the airline's engineers instantly. A woman working in the offices received severe burns and died five days later.
[edit] Corporatisation
On 1 April 1989 the Federal Airports Corporation (FAC) assumed control of the airport. On 10 June 1998, the Australian Government granted a 50 year lease plus a 49 year option to Northern Territory Airports Pty Ltd. Northern Territory Airports is 100% owned by Airport Developments Group (which also operates Tennant Creek Airport). Northern Territory Airports Pty Ltd has 100% ownership of Alice Springs Airport Pty Ltd (along with the Darwin International Airport).
