Proserpine / Whitsunday Coast Airport

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Whitsunday Coast Airport
IATA: PPP – ICAO: YBPN PPP Location of the airport in Queensland
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Whitsunday Shire Council
Location		Proserpine, Queensland, Australia
Elevation AMSL		82 ft / 25 m
Coordinates		20°29.7′S 148°33.1′E / 20.495°S 148.5517°E / -20.495; 148.5517
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
11/29	2,073	6,801	Asphalt
06/24	1,100	3,608	Unmarked Asphalt
Source: AIP Enroute Supplement [1]

Whitsunday Coast Airport (IATA: PPP, ICAO: YBPN) is located approximately 10 kilometres (6 mi) south of Proserpine in Queensland, Australia. The airport is the main gateway for travellers to and from the Whitsunday area and currently only has flights to the state capital Brisbane.

History

Plans to build an airfield in Proserpine commenced in 1936, however construction was delayed due to a lack of funding. Construction of the airport finally began in 1946.^{[citation needed]}

The first passenger service to Proserpine was on 3 November 1951. It was a flight from Brisbane in a Douglas DC-3.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2001, the airport suffered heavily from the collapse of Ansett Australia, who at the time were the biggest operaters out of Proserpine with direct services to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The company even operated seasonal flights to the Gold Coast and Adelaide.

Whitsunday Coast Airport Upgrade

Recently the Passenger Terminal underwent an upgrade. Earthworks commenced in mid-October 2010 and demolition works in November 2010. The upgraded terminal was officially opened on Tuesday 20 December 2011.^[2]

Airlines and Destinations

Previous Destinations

The airport has previously had direct flights to Sydney & Melbourne. It is hoped that with the completion of the upgrade to the terminal that the airlines will re-instate these services. Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia) and Jetstar cut their once-weekly direct flights to Sydney in response to rising fuel costs during the Global Financial Crisis even though the route regularly ran at full capacity and was usually booked out days in advance. In May 2011, Jetstar also announced it would be discontinuing afternoon services (replacing it with morning services and would be reducing services further until about July. The airport currently only has services to the state capital Brisbane, however Virgin Australia has indicated that with their aircraft numbers being boosted, they may look to re-introduce direct Sydney flights.

On June 10 2012, A marathon will be held to try and elevate the airports profile with the ultimate goal of securing either a regular direct service to either Melbourne or Sydney.^[3]

Image gallery

Western end of the Terminal and Taxi Rank

Terminal Parking

Terminal Entry & Exit

Arrivals Hall & Luggage Carousel

The view of the carpark from the Arrivals Hall

Departures Hall

References

External links

• Dick Smith safety report on Proserpine Tower
• Department of Infrastructure and Planning - Whitsunday Coast Airport terminal upgrade