Port Macquarie Airport is an airport in

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Se ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. The airport is west
Aeronautical Chart
of the city centre and is owned and managed by the

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council Port Macquarie-Hastings Council is a local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is located adjacent to the Hastings River, the Pacific Highway, the Oxley Highway and the North Coast railway ...

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 222,534 revenue passengers, the 32nd busiest in Australia, and 4,821 aircraft movements in 2017–2018. Refers to "Regular Public Transport (RPT) operations only"

Airlines and destinations

Virgin Australia

On 4 February 2008, Virgin Blue (now

Virgin Australia Virgin Australia, the trading name of Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd, is an Australian-based airline. It is the largest airline by fleet size to use the Virgin brand. It commenced services on 31 August 2000 as ''Virgin Blue'', with two ...

) commenced direct scheduled services between

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

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

. An increase to twice-daily service commenced 4 August 2008. 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. On 28 July 2011, Virgin Australia (in partnership with

Skywest Airlines SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah, United States. SkyWest is paid to staff, operate and maintain aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by a partner mainline airline. Th ...

) announced its intention to commence a daily Brisbane to Port Macquarie service from October 2011. On 19 October 2011, Virgin Australia's

ATR 72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed ...

departed on its first flight to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. 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.Virgin Australia Expands Regional Network Adding Gladstone and Port Macquarie and Increased Canberra Services
/ref> Both routes have since been withdrawn due to the removal of ATR72 aircraft from the Virgin Australia fleet in 2020.

Aircraft operations

Connections to Brisbane (via Coffs Harbour) by Brindabella Airlines ceased 31 December 2010, citing poor loads on the route.Brindabella Airlines to exit Port Macquarie
Despite this, Virgin Australia entered the route on 19 October 2011 as a daily service with their ATR72 aircraft.

Statistics

References

External links

Port Macquarie Airport
{{Airports in New South Wales Airports in New South Wales Port Macquarie