Tennant Creek Airport is a small regional airport located near Tennant Creek, Northern Territory,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Located one kilometre from the remote outback township of Tennant Creek, the airport caters to mining companies and small predominantly

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

communities in the surrounding area, providing an important link for the local population with

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

, Katherine,

Darwin Darwin may refer to: Common meanings * Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English naturalist and writer, best known as the originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection * Darwin, Northern Territory, a territorial capital city i ...

and other regional centres. Currently the airport is served by two airlines,

Fly Tiwi Fly Tiwi is an Australian airline based in Darwin, Northern Territory, offering scheduled passenger services between the Northern Territory capital and communities located on the Tiwi, South Goulburn and Croker islands, as well as a number o ...

(Hardy Aviation) operate twice weekly services to

. In June 2013, Chartair began services twice weekly to

after receiving a subsidy from the

Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

to operate the route under the Remote Air Services Subsidy Scheme. Both companies usually use twin-engine Cessna 402 or

441 __NOTOC__ Year 441 ( CDXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Seleucus without colleague (or, less frequently, year ...

type aircraft for flights to and from Tennant Creek. Other operations include mail flights to outlying communities, charters and aeromedical flights.

History

World War II

During World War II the airfield was utilised as a staging airfield between South Australia and

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. It is the smalle ...

by the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

Units that ultised Tennant Creek Airfield

No. 34 Squadron RAAF No. 34 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) VIP transport squadron. It operates Boeing 737 Business Jets and Dassault Falcon 7Xs from Defence Establishment Fairbairn in Canberra. The squadron was formed in February 1942 fo ...

Post-war

The terminal facilities at Tennant Creek Airport were constructed during the 1960s. On 1 April 1989, the

Federal Airports Corporation The Federal Airports Corporation (FAC) was a business enterprise of the Government of Australia responsible for the operation of major passenger airports in Australia. It was established by the Hawke Labor Government by an Act of Parliament in ...

took control of the airport and on 10 June 1998, passed control and management to the Airport Development Group (ADG). ADG hold a 50-year lease over Tennant Creek Airport with free option for a further 49 years. The current operator of the airport is Tennant Creek Airport Pty Ltd.

Airlines and destinations

References

External links

Tennant Creek Airport
{{Airports in the Northern Territory Airports in the Northern Territory Tennant Creek