Aurukun Airport Guide

Aurukun Airport serves the Aboriginal community of Aurukun on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, facing the Gulf of Carpentaria. Its ICAO code is YAUR. The airfield lies about 1 km from the township centre, and the nearest airport with regular services, Weipa, is roughly 78 km away.

The airport has a single sealed runway, 16/34, 1,260 m long. Aurukun Shire Council owns and operates it. The aerodrome was certified on 20 June 2008 and holds CASR Part 139 certification.

A new terminal opened on 19 October 2021, funded with more than $2.9 million from the Queensland Government's Works for Queensland program. It is about one-third larger than the building it replaced and is air-conditioned. It has seating, a security inspection area, bathrooms, a staff waiting room and formal car parking. The passenger lounge is named the Alison Woolla Memorial Passenger Lounge, after a former mayor, and the entrance and ceiling sculpture draw on the water lilies of the local wetlands.

Skytrans flies passengers between Aurukun, Cairns and other Western Cape communities. The Royal Flying Doctor Service and charter operators also use the airport. Wet-season flooding makes the roads hard to drive, so the airport is the community's main year-round link. There is no taxi service, so ground transport must be arranged in advance.