Kingscote Airport is located southwest of

Kingscote, South Australia Kingscote is a town in the Australian state of South Australia located on Kangaroo Island about south-west of the state capital of Adelaide. It is South Australia's oldest European settlement and the island's largest town. At the 2016 census, ...

, the main town on

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

, in the locality of

Cygnet River A cygnet is a young swan. Cygnet may also refer to: Places *Cygnet Island, a small islet in south-eastern Australia *Cygnet, Ohio, a village in the United States *Cygnet River, South Australia, a locality on Kangaroo Island *Cygnet, Tasmania, a ...

. The airport is the sole airport for Kangaroo Island. The airport is served by regular public transport and many charter flights. The airport is managed by the

Kangaroo Island Council The Kangaroo Island Council is a local government area in South Australia that covers the entirety of Kangaroo Island, 13 km off the coast of the mainland. The council was formed on the 28 November 1996 by the amalgamation of the District C ...

, which has operated the airport since 16 June 1983. A runway upgrade and new terminal building were completed in May 2018, and officially opened by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Premier of South Australia, Steven Marshall, on 4 July 2018.

Airline history

Guinea Airways operated the first commercial service to Kangaroo Island, commencing in the 1930s. In 1959, the airline was acquired by

Airlines of South Australia Airlines of South Australia refers to *A subsidiary of Ansett Airlines that operated from 1959 until 1986, and *An independent airline that operated between 1987 and 2005. History Ansett subsidiary (1960-1986) The original Airlines of S ...

(ASA), a subsidiary of

Ansett Airlines Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia. After operating for 65 years, the airline was placed into Adminis ...

. The airline's final service was on 4 April 1986. ASA primarily operated

Convair Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, it ...

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

and

Fokker F-27 The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...

aircraft. A

Piaggio P166 The Piaggio P.166 is an Italian twin-engine pusher-type utility aircraft developed by Piaggio Aero. The aircraft model name was Portofino, and is also known as Albatross in South African military service. Design and development The basic P.16 ...

was used infrequently in the 1970s, whilst Rossair operated

Cessna 402 The Cessna 401 and 402 are a series of 6 to 10 seat, light twin-piston engine aircraft. This line was manufactured by Cessna from 1966 to 1985 under the name Utiliner and Businessliner.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplane ...

s in an arrangement with ASA to replace the F27s in off-peak times. Following the withdrawal of ASA,

Kendell Airlines Kendell Airlines was a regional airline in Australia, in the 1990s the largest in the country. It served major regional centres in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania from Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney. Many of its servi ...

(another Ansett subsidiary), operated 19-seat Fairchild Metroliners and 34 seat

SAAB Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

aircraft to the Island. Upon Ansett's ultimate demise in 2002, Regional Express (Rex) acquired the Kendell aircraft and continued services which were later dropped. In competition with the larger aircraft, and generally with more flexible timetables, a succession of smaller airlines from the 1980s tried with varying success to maintain a 'second string' presence. The most successful,

Emu Airways Emu Airways was an airline based in Adelaide in Australia operating tourist flights to nearby Kangaroo Island. It was part of the RegionalLink Airlines group which also included Airnorth and Airlines of South Australia (ASA). Code data *I ...

, commenced in 1980 and made its final flight in November 2005. Emu flew

Piper Chieftain The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Ta ...

aircraft to Kingscote, American River, Penneshaw and Parndana, before air regulations dictated abandonment of all airstrips except Kingscote. Air Kangaroo Island (formerly Air Transit), flew

s to the island during the 1990s. Keith Stevens operated Albatross Airlines for much of the 1980s and early 1990s. From 1986 to 1990,

Lloyd Aviation Lloyd Aviation was an Australian regional airline established in 1969. The airline ceased operations on 30 September 1990. History Lloyd Aviation was established in 1969 as Lloyd Aviation Jet Charter Pty. Ltd and began charter operations in the ...

operated

Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian general purpose 15–21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max Ho ...

aircraft, before flying the Irish-made

Short 330 The Short 330 (also SD3-30) is a small turboprop transport aircraft produced by Short Brothers. It seats up to 30 people and was relatively inexpensive and had low maintenance costs at the time of its introduction in 1976. The 330 was based on ...

. For several years during the 1980s, Commodore Airlines (eventually becoming State Air) offered another alternative service.

QantasLink QantasLink is a regional brand of Australian airline Qantas and is an affiliate member of the Oneworld airline alliance. It is a major competitor to Regional Express Airlines and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines. As of September 2010 Qantas ...

briefly operated a service after the demise of Emu Airways, commencing 18 December 2005, but withdrew less than six months later. Qantaslink also operated direct flights from Kangaroo Island to Melbourne, the first time the route was operated. Air South started operations using a Cessna Titan in January 2007 but ceased regular flights on 17 October 2009. Qantaslink announced they will commence year round services to Adelaide and seasonal services to Melbourne from December 2017. On 3 February 2020, Regional Express announced it was exiting the flights to Adelaide before a reversal of the decision on 22 March 2021.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Kingscote Airport was ranked 60th 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 j ...

2010–2011.

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 Refers to "Regular Public Transport (RPT) operations only"

References

External links

Kingscote Airport
Retrieved 4 January 2021.
Regional Express
Retrieved 4 January 2021. {{Authority control Airports in South Australia Kangaroo Island

Airline history

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

See also

References

External links