Hamilton Island Airport

Hamilton Island Airport (IATA: HTI, ICAO: YBHM), also known as Great Barrier Reef Airport, is a privately owned public use aerodrome and is the main airport on Hamilton Island. The airport is settled on mostly reclaimed land and is commercially served year-round by Jetstar, Virgin Australia and Qantas. Hamilton Island Airport handles flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Hamilton Island Airport
IATA: HTI ICAO: YBHM
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Great Barrier Reef Airport Pty Ltd
Location	Hamilton Island
Opened	June 1984; 40 years ago (1984-06)
Elevation AMSL	15 ft / 5 m
Coordinates	20°21′29″S 148°57′06″E
Website	Official website
Map
YBHM Location in Queensland
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 14/32 1,764 5,787 Asphalt
Statistics
Passengers 500,000 (2022) Aircraft movements 4,145
Sources: Australian AIP and aerodrome chart[1] BITRE[2]

It opened in June 1984, with Ansett Australia having exclusive rights to serve the airport, as part of its 50% shareholding. Ansett initially operated services from Brisbane and Sydney with Boeing 737s. The 1,764 metre runway was capable of accommodating Boeing 747SPs.^[3]

Ansett sold its shareholding to the BT Hotel Group in May 1998, allowing Qantas to begin to serve the airport.^[4][5][6] The airport suffered heavily in September 2001 with the demise of Ansett Australia, which operated more heavily out of the airport than any other airline with flights to Cairns, Townsville, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.^[7]

In the year ending 30 June 2022 the airport handled 500,000 passengers.^[2]

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Jetstar	Melbourne, Sydney
Qantas	Sydney[8] Seasonal: Melbourne
QantasLink	Brisbane
Virgin Australia	Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney

Operations

Busiest domestic routes into and out of Hamilton Island Airport
(FY 2011)^[9][10]

Rank	Airport	Passengers carried	% change
1	Sydney	180,109	N/A*
2	Brisbane	170,376	4.6

*Sydney route included from July 2009

References

1. YBHM – Hamilton (PDF). AIP En Route Supplement from Airservices Australia, effective 13 June 2024, Aeronautical Chart Archived 10 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
2. Domestic aviation activity 2022 Bureau of Infrastructure & Transport Research Economics 2023
3. The Barrier Reef comes of age Australian Aviation issue 23 June 1984 page 50
4. Hamilton Island to buy the other half of its airport Australian Financial Review 15 September 1999
5. The Story of the Rise and Fall of Ansett 1936-2002. Fyshwick: Stewart Wilson Aerospace Publications. 2002. p. 41. ISBN 1875671579.
6. History of Hamilton Island Hamilton Island
7. Ansett collapse hurts Hamilton Island The Age 15 March 2002
8. "QANTAS ANNOUNCES NEW DOMESTIC ROUTES". Qantas. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
9. Fiscal year 1 July – 30 June
10. "Australian Domestic Airline Activity 2010–11". Bureau of Infrastructure & Transport Research Economics. May 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2012. Refers to "Regular Public Transport (RPT) operations only"

External links

Media related to Great Barrier Reef Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website