Gove Airport guide

Gove Airport (ICAO YPGV) serves the Gove Peninsula in north-east Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. It lies about 11 km south-southeast of the mining town of Nhulunbuy and is the main air link for the East Arnhem region and nearby Aboriginal communities such as Yirrkala. Nhulunbuy Corporation owns and operates it.

The site began as a wartime airfield. The RAAF built it in 1943 and named it after Pilot Officer William Gove, who was killed in action; squadrons including No. 83, No. 13 and No. 42 flew from it until the base closed in early 1946. The civil airport was established in the 1970s on the same ground. The peninsula takes its name from the airport's namesake.

The single asphalt runway, 13/31, measures 2,208 m by 45 m. A terminal shaped like an aircraft, completed in 2005-06, has an air-conditioned departure lounge and indoor baggage collection. A control tower was built but never operated. Airnorth flies scheduled services to Darwin and Cairns, and Mission Aviation Fellowship links smaller East Arnhem communities. The airport handled 40,493 passengers in 2020-21, down from 57,298 in 2018-19.