Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Kalgoorlie Boulder Airport

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Airport type
  
Public

11/29
  
2,000

Elevation
  
367 m

Elevation AMSL
  
1,203 ft / 367 m

Code
  
KGI

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport

Operator
  
City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder

Location
  
Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

Website
  
www.kalbould.wa.gov.au/...

Address
  
Kalgoorlie WA 6433, Australia

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport (IATA: KGI, ICAO: YPKG) is an airport in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The airport is 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) south of the city.

Construction and fencing of the Kalgoorlie Aerodrome commenced in 1928, and completed the following year with Royal Australian Airforce landing five Wapiti Jupiter Series aeroplanes in front of large crowds. The aeroplanes were making their way to Perth in preparation for the East-West Air Race.

Ownership of the airport was transferred from the Commonwealth Government 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.

In November 2007, Skywest Airlines attempted a three times weekly direct service from Kalgoorlie to Melbourne, which failed due to lack of patronage. This service was reinstated once weekly, departing on a Friday and returning on a Sunday. The airport handled 259,958 passengers in the year ending 30 June 2011 making it the 21st busiest airport in Australia. Early in 2010 they were re-introduced by Skywest Airlines. QantasLink also started flights between Kalgoorlie and Adelaide due to the lack of services between the goldfields and the eastern states of Australia. Kalgoorlie Airport is a major hub for fly-in fly-out service due to the mining boom in the region. Kalgoorlie Airport is also a hub for the Goldfields Air Services which offers chartering and flight lessons, along with the Royal Flying Doctor Service which uses Kalgoorlie as a hub due the lack of medical assistance for people in the region, transporting major injuries from Kalgoorlie to Perth.

Kalgoorlie Airport has a single terminal which was recently upgraded. The airport is served by two airlines. Following its takeover of Skywest in 2013, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines uses Kalgoorlie as a stop over for its Melbourne routes, whilst Qantas has always had a much stronger appearance in the airport. The airport also used to serve Ansett Australia before they went bankrupt.

Not long after the Virgin take over of Skywest, the Kalgoorlie to Melbourne services switched operators to Virgin Australia instead of the Virgin Australia Regional Airlines.

References

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport Wikipedia