Townsville Airport

Townsville Airport
IATA: TSV ICAO: YBTL
Summary
Airport type	Military/Public
Owner	Department of Defence
Operator	Queensland Airports
Serves	Townsville, Queensland
Location	Garbutt, Queensland
Elevation AMSL	18 ft / 5 m
Coordinates	19°15′12″S 146°45′54″E / 19.25333°S 146.76500°E / -19.25333; 146.76500
Website	www.townsvilleairport.com.au
Maps
YBTL Location in Queensland
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 01/19 2,438 7,999 Asphalt 07/25 1,100 3,609 Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Passengers 1,644,089
Source: Enroute Supplement Australia from Airservices Australia[1]

Townsville Airport (IATA: TSV, ICAO: YBTL) is a major Australian regional airport that services the city of Townsville, Queensland. The airport is also known as Townsville International Airport, and Garbutt Airport, a reference to its location in the Townsville suburb of Garbutt. Townsville Airport is serviced by major Australian domestic and regional airlines, and in 2011/12 handled 1.7 million^[2] passengers making it the 11th busiest airport in Australia.

Townsville Airport is a common-use civilian and defence facility, sharing access with RAAF Base Townsville. It is used as a staging point for Australian Defence Force (ADF) operations within Australia and internationally. The aerodrome has also been used for co-ordination of relief efforts following Tropical Cyclones and other natural disasters, notably Cyclone Larry in 2006.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service has one of its nine Queensland bases at Townsville Airport.^[3]

Townsville Airport was granted international airport status commencing in 1980. International traffic grew substantially through the early 1980s then receded, however, as a result of airline market restructuring, and significant competition with Cairns Airport for regional tourism. The airport then suffered an extended hiatus from handling direct civil international flights with the final Qantas international service in 2002, between Townsville and Singapore via Brisbane using a Boeing 767. From December 2010, the city again handled direct international flights, flown by Strategic Airlines to Bali.^[4] These flights ceased with the insolvency of Strategic Airlines, but resumed with Jetstar on 2 September 2015.

It was announced on September 11, 2017, that Jetstar will cancel flights to Denpasar from 21 March 2018 due to low passenger numbers.^[5]

On February 22, 2017 Tigerair Australia announced that the airline will start flights to Melbourne later that year on June 22, 2017, Tigerair touched down for the first time in Townsville but one year later it was announced on July 3, 2018 that Tigerair will cease flights to Melbourne on August 1, 2018, due to low passenger numbers.^[6]

The airport is located 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) west of the Townsville CBD.^[1]