Kalgoorlie–Boulder Airport is an airport in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The airport is south of the city. It handled 299,055 passengers in the 2021–22 financial year. The airport is a major hub for

fly-in fly-out Fly-in fly-out is a method of employing people in remote areas by flying them temporarily to the work site instead of relocating employees and their families permanently. It is often abbreviated to FIFO when referring to employment status. This i ...

service due to the mining boom in the region. It is also a hub for the Goldfields Air Services, which offers chartering and flight lessons, along with the

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an aeromedical retrieval service in Australia and the largest of its kind in the world. It is a non-profit organisation that provides urgent and emergency medica ...

, which uses Kalgoorlie as a hub due to the lack of medical assistance for people in the region, transporting major injuries from Kalgoorlie to Perth.

History

Construction and fencing of the Kalgoorlie Aerodrome commenced in 1928, and completed the following year with

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

landing five

Wapiti The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. T ...

Jupiter Series aeroplanes in front of large crowds. The aeroplanes were making their way to Perth in preparation for the East-West Air Race. In 1949 a mass scrapping of

Vultee Vengeance The Vultee A-31 Vengeance is an American dive bomber of World War II that was built by Vultee Aircraft. A modified version was called A-35. The Vengeance was not used operationally by the United States but was operated as a front-line aircraft ...

dive-bombers took place at the airport, with the engines, undercarriage legs and some cockpit fittings of 20 aircraft being removed and sent to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

by a salvage company, while local citizens also purchased aircraft for parts. Some years later the abandoned airframes were cut up and loaded on trucks to move to scrap yards. Ownership of the airport was transferred from the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national Executive (government), executive government of Australia, a federalism, federal Parliamentary system, parliamentary con ...

to the Shire of Boulder in 1989 with a A$4.2 million grant to construct a new terminal and additional runway space. The new airport opened in November 1992.ian av The airport hosts a number of daily Perth to Kalgoorlie return flight services. Between November 2007 and November 2008,

Skywest Airlines SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah. SkyWest operates and maintains aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by four partner Mainline (air travel), mainline airlines. The comp ...

operated a three times weekly direct service from Kalgoorlie to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, which failed due to soaring fuel prices and increasing economic uncertainty. Skywest resumed its Kalgoorlie to Melbourne operation in February 2010, with a once a week service. Prior to May 2014,

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

operated two flights between Kalgoorlie and

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. Qantas has also operated direct flights between Kalgoorlie and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

during peak periods, such as the annual Diggers & Dealers conference. In 2020, Virgin Australia suspended their direct flights between Kalgoorlie and Melbourne due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Airlines and destinations

Operations

References

External links

Kalgoorlie–Boulder Airport
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{{Airports in Western Australia Airports in Western Australia City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder Goldfields–Esperance