Shellharbour Airport, formerly Illawarra Regional Airport, also referred as Albion Park Aerodrome or Wollongong Airport, is an airport located in

Albion Park Rail Albion Park Rail is a suburb of Shellharbour, Australia situated in the Macquarie Valley (Shellharbour). The South Coast railway line was opened to the railway station and Bombo in 1887. At the time the nearest town was Albion Park, several ...

, Shellharbour City,

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. The Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) is located at the airport. The airline

Link Airways Vee H Aviation Pty Ltd, operating as Link Airways, formerly known as Fly Corporate, is an Australian regional airline based at Brisbane Airport, Queensland. The airline operates scheduled regional passenger services in Queensland, New South ...

offers daily services from the airport to Melbourne–Essendon and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

.Fly Corporate makes inaugural flight from Illawarra Regional Airport
Illawarra Mercury 12 November 2018

Overview

The airport is owned and operated by Shellharbour City Council. It is located at the intersection of the

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former alignments of the hig ...

and

Illawarra Highway Illawarra Highway is a short state highway in New South Wales, Australia. It connects Wollongong to the Southern Highlands and links Princes Highway and Hume Highway. It is named after the geographical area it crosses, the Illawarra region ...

. The airport is an 80-minute drive from

Sydney Airport Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (colloquially Mascot Airport, Kingsford Smith Airport, or Sydney Airport; ; ) is an international airport in Sydney, Australia, located 8 km (5 mi) south of the Sydney central business district, in t ...

and 60 minutes from Sydney's southern suburbs. A regular rail service is available at Albion Park Rail, 900 metres from the passenger terminal, on the South Coast rail line. The airport is home to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) and a range of tourism-related operations.

History

World War II

As early as the 1920s, aviators had used fields in the Albion Park area for pleasure flights and demonstrations. ''RAAF Albion Park'' was built in 1942 as a

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

(RAAF) Operational Base during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

on land compulsorily acquired by the Australian Government. The base was used to conduct pilot training and was considered an important strategic asset in the defence of the Illawarra, particularly the steelworks at Port Kembla. Decorated fighter ace Clive Caldwell, a local resident, received RAAF training at the airfield. A satellite airfield was constructed north of Cordeaux Dam to support operations at Albion Park.Illawarra Regional Airport
Shellharbour Heritage Inventory

Post War

Following the war, Trans Australia Airlines and Australian National Airways linked the airport with Canberra and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

until 1950. From 1952, South Coast Airways operated a milk run between Sydney and Melbourne with intermediate stops in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near w ...

(Albion Park), Bairnsdale and Sale. Ownership of the airfield was transferred to the Shellharbour Municipal Council in 1962.http://www.illawarraregionalairport.com.au/default.aspx?WebPage=23

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

and

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...

visited the airport during a 1970 tour of Australia. Also during the 1970s, Southbank Aviation introduced commuter services from Albion Park to Newcastle and Canberra. The company would later relocate operations to Sydney, but Shellharbour Airport remained an important facility for pilot training and aircraft maintenance into the 1980s. In 1990, the first

master plan Master Plan, Masterplan or The Master Plan may refer to: General usage *Master Plan East or Generalplan Ost, a 1941–1945 Nazi plan for genocide and ethnic cleansing in Central and Eastern Europe *Master Plan Neighborhood areas in Detroit, urban ...

was prepared for the Shellharbour Airport (then named Illawarra Regional Airport), providing a framework for future management and developments when Shellharbour City Council assumed full responsibility for the operation of the airport. Throughout the 1990s, development of facilities continued, including the construction of a new passenger terminal and upgrades to roads and navigation aids at the airport. Impulse Airlines operated to the airport from Melbourne and Newcastle until August 2000. In 2002, the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society began relocating their collection of aircraft to Shellharbour Airport from Bankstown Airport in Sydney. Their hangar was completed in 2005, along with several other major upgrades, including the strengthening and reconstruction of runway 16/34 with better lighting, enhanced security, and the opening of Shellharbour City's Light Aeronautics Industry Cluster. Coinciding with this upgrade was the commencement of Qantaslink services to Melbourne, although these were discontinued in 2008. In 2019, it was renamed from Illawarra Regional Airport to its present name.

Airport facilities

The primary runway is 16/34, with a paved surface measuring . A displaced threshold reduces the available landing distance on runway 34 by to allow aircraft to clear high terrain along the approach path. 16/34 is equipped with pilot activated low intensity runway lighting, as well as precision approach path indicator systems to assist with landings under varying conditions. The secondary runway 08/26 is suitable for day operations only as it is not equipped with runway lighting and is restricted to aircraft with Maximum Takeoff Weights less than . There is no control tower located at the airport and pilots must co-ordinate arrivals and departures using a

Common Traffic Advisory Frequency Common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) is the name given to the VHF radio frequency used for air-to-air communication at United States, Canadian and Australian non-towered airports. Many towered airports close their towers overnight, keeping ...

, aided by an Aerodrome Frequency Response Unit (AFRU), which notifies pilots that their transmissions have been received on the frequency and activates lighting systems as appropriate. The nearest radio navigation aid for pilots is the Wollongong

Non-Directional Beacon A non-directional beacon (NDB) or non-directional radio beacon is a radio beacon which does not include directional information. Radio beacons are radio transmitters at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. NDB are ...

installation located within the airport boundary. Fuel is available for piston, turbine and jet powered aircraft and an automated weather service also operates at the airport. Despite the length of the runway being sufficient for operating large passenger jets such as the

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two ...

, the pavements are currently only suitable for aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight not exceeding . This, as well as environmental and noise issues, limits the potential of Shellharbour Airport as a major gateway for commercial airline operations despite its proximity to Sydney. Despite this,

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the List of airlines by foundation date, world's third-oldest airline sti ...

donated City of Canberra, a

Boeing 747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The "Advanced Series 300" was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, target ...

on 8 March 2015, where it made its final landing safely on the runway. Pilots trained on simulations for the landing and reduced the aircraft's weight including reducing the tyre pressure to 120 pounds per square inch from the typical 208, and carrying 25,400 litres of fuel, versus the maximum of 217,000 litres.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The airline

offers daily services from the airport to

(9 weekly returns) and

(4 weekly returns). Link Airways service these routes using 34 seat Saab 340B+ turboprop aircraft. Previously, commencing on 30 October 2017, JETGO Australia became the first airline to operate regular passenger services from Wollongong airport since the termination of Qantaslink flights in 2008. This was also the first time that jet aircraft have been operated for scheduled passenger services. Jetgo provided daily flights to

and

using Embraer ERJ regional jets of 36 to 50 seats capacity, until the airline went out of business on 1 June 2018.

Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS)

Qantas (VH-OJA) Boeing 747-438 makes its final ever landing at Illawarra Regional Airport

HARS Super Connie, Wollongong New South Wales

The Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) is based at Wollongong Airport. HARS was formed in 1979 by a group of aviation enthusiasts interested in the preservation of Australian Aviation History. Its mission is "To recover and where possible restore to flying condition, aircraft or types of aircraft that have played a significant part in Australian Aviation History both in the Civil and Military arenas". Actor John Travolta donated his ex-Qantas Boeing 707 to the group in 2017. The plane will be flown to the airport after it completed repairs to ensure safe ferry condition. HARS has restored, or acquired: * Boeing 747-438 (VH-OJA) * Boeing 707-138B (N707JT) * Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation * Consolidated PBY Catalina * Dassault Mirage IIIO (A3-42) * Lockheed P-2 Neptune (273 & 566) * Douglas C47 Dakota (A65-94 & A65-95) * Convair 340-67 Airliner * De Havilland Vampire (A79-637 & A79-665) *

Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British Multirole combat aircraft, multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter varian ...

* Bell AH-1 Cobra * de Havilland DHA-3 Drover * Cessna 310 (VH-REK) * De Havilland Tiger Moth * CAC Winjeel * Cessna 180 *

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, Monoplane#High, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.

* De Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou (A4-210 and A4-234) * Messerschmitt Bf 108 (NORD 1002) * Let L-200 Morava * Auster Autocar *

English Electric Canberra The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havil ...

General Dynamics F-111C The General Dynamics F-111C (nicknamed "Pig") is a variant of the F-111 Aardvark medium-range interdictor and tactical strike aircraft, developed by General Dynamics to meet Australian requirements. The design was based on the F-111A model but ...

* Hawker Hunter FGA * Convair 440 * Grumman S-2G Tracker (N12-152812) * Lockheed AP-3C Orion (A9-753) * Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21

Accidents and incidents

*On 18 December 1961, a Bristol 170 registration VH-AAH operated by Pacific Aviation crashed into trees near the airport during a training flight at Albion Park. The crew were unable to recover after power was lost during a simulated engine failure. All four on board survived the accident. *On 2 April 1989, a Piper PA-60 Sequoia aircraft, registration VH-NOE crashed into the sea off Bass Point, to the east of Illawarra Regional Airport. The charter flight from Sydney was intended to pick up passengers at Wollongong and continue onwards to Nowra and Canberra. By the time of the accident, the passengers had already contacted the Sydney-based operator to cancel the charter, but the aircraft had departed before this could be communicated to the pilot. It is believed the aircraft struck the ocean in poor weather while attempting an instrument approach to the airport. Some debris was later located, but the main wreckage and the remains of the pilot, the only person on board, were never recovered.

References

External links

Shellharbour Airport website
{{Authority control Airports in New South Wales Albion Park Rail, New South Wales Transport in Wollongong Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in Australia