Townsville International Airport

Townsville Airport Garbutt Airport Townsville International Airport
IATA: TSV ICAO: YBTL
Summary
Airport type	Military/Public
Owner	Department of Defence
Operator	Queensland Airports Limited
Serves	Townsville, Queensland
Location	Garbutt, Queensland
Elevation AMSL	18 ft / 5 m
Coordinates	19°15′12″S 146°45′54″E / 19.25333°S 146.76500°E / -19.25333; 146.76500Coordinates: 19°15′12″S 146°45′54″E / 19.25333°S 146.76500°E / -19.25333; 146.76500
Website	www.townsvilleairport.com.au
Map
YBTL Location in Queensland
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 01/19 2,438 7,999 Asphalt 07/25 1,100 3,609 Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Passengers 1,644,089
Source: Enroute Supplement Australia from Airservices Australia

Townsville Airport (IATA: TSV, ICAO: YBTL) is a major Australian regional airport that services the city of Townsville. The airport is also known as Townsville International Airport, and Garbutt Airport, a reference to its location in the Townsville suburb of Garbutt. Townsville Airport is serviced by major Australian domestic and regional airlines, and in 2011/12 handled 1.7 million passengers making it the 11th busiest airport in Australia.

Townsville International Airport is a common-use civilian and defence facility, sharing access with RAAF Base Townsville. It is used as a staging point for Australian Defence Force (ADF) operations within Australia and internationally. The aerodrome has also been used for co-ordination of relief efforts following Tropical Cyclones and other natural disasters, notably Cyclone Larry in 2006.

Townsville Airport was the first Australian regional city airport to be granted international airport status commencing in 1980. International traffic grew substantially through the early 1980s then receded however as a result of airline market restructuring, and significant competition with Cairns Airport for regional tourism. The airport then suffered an extended hiatus from handling direct civil international flights with the final Qantas international service in 2002, between Townsville and Singapore via Brisbane using a Boeing 767. From December 2010, the city again handled direct international flights, flown by Strategic Airlines to Bali Denpasar Airport. These flights ceased with the insolvency of Strategic Airlines, but resumed with Jetstar on 2 September 2015

The airport is located 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) west of the Townsville CBD.

The first airport was established in the 1920s in the Thuringowa Shire south of the Ross River, in what is now the suburb of Murray. It was licensed as a civil airport by the Civil Aviation Branch in 1930, but it was never very satisfactory, as the ground was boggy for much of the year, and there was only room for one east-west runway. In 1938 a larger site was selected within the City of Townsville on the Town Common, adjacent to Ingham Road and the North Coast Railway. Two 800 yd (730 m) gravel runways were constructed, and the new Townsville Airport officially opened on its present site on 1 February 1939.