Dubbo City Regional Airport

Dubbo City Regional Airport (IATA: DBO[4], ICAO: YSDU) is a regional airport in Dubbo, Australia.[2] The airport is located 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) northwest of Dubbo and is operated by the Dubbo City Council.[2] It is also known as Dubbo Airport or Dubbo City Airport.

Dubbo City Regional Airport

Dubbo City Airport
View of the airport terminal
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorDubbo City Council
ServesDubbo, New South Wales, Australia
Elevation AMSL935 ft / 285 m
Coordinates32°13′00″S 148°34′30″E
Websitewww.dubboairport.com.au/
Map
YSDU is located in New South Wales
YSDU
YSDU
Location in New South Wales
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
05/23 1,708 5,604 Asphalt
11/29 1,067 3,501 Asphalt
Statistics (2010–11[1])
Revenue passengers176,821
Aircraft movements6,899
Aerial view of the airport
Departure lounge at Dubbo Airport post refurbishment
Check in area at Dubbo Airport post refurbishment

History

Aeroplanes began landing in Dubbo in the 1920s, though it wasn't until 1935 that land was purchased for an official airport. During World War II, the airport was reconstructed to be a military airport. The airport runway was redone by the Department of Civil Aviation in 1969, and a terminal was opened in 1970. The Dubbo City Council accepted ownership of the airport on 1 July 1970. The airport has been used for scheduled, charter, and freight services since then.

In 1983, Airlines of New South Wales announced that they intended to introduce Fokker F28 Fellowship regional jets on routes to Dubbo. At that time, the Federal Government project that while there would only be a modest increase in the number of aircraft movements between 1985 and 2000, larger aircraft would see the number of passengers handled by the airport in the same period grow from under 70,000 to 103,000.[5]

Facilities

The airport resides at an elevation of 935 ft (285 m) above sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 05/23 measuring 1,708 m × 45 m (5,604 ft × 148 ft) and 11/29 measuring 1,067 m × 18 m (3,501 ft × 59 ft).[2]

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Air Link Bourke, Walgett[6]
Link Airways Brisbane,[7] Melbourne–Essendon[7]
QantasLink Sydney
Rex Airlines Broken Hill, Sydney

Incidents
  • In April 2010, it was found that the PIN to access the secure areas of the airport such as the tarmac was taped to the gate above the keypad. This was deemed "not acceptable" by Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese. Despite this security breach, the airport managed to pass a security audit in 2009.[8]

Controversy

In February 2013, Dubbo City Council (DCC) announced that it would screen all passengers and bags boarding Regional Express and QantasLink aircraft, after QantasLink announced it would introduce the Dash-8 Q400 to the route.[9] DCC would also charge Regional Express (REX) more than $300,000 per year for the screening, which REX sees as subsidising QantasLink, after DCC claimed to the Deputy Premier, Andrew Stoner, that it is required under the Air Transport Safety Regulations (ATSR) and that it is inflexible.[9][10][11] REX hit back at the claims that screening was necessary, pointing out that Albury and Wagga Wagga airports allow parallel departures under the ATSR and at Mildura, passengers are screened at no extra cost.[11][12] REX lodged an official complaint against DCC with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission over the screening charge.[13]

The Mayor of Dubbo, Mathew Dickerson, stated that the council wouldn't back down on the screenings and also stating that "I don't want to be the mayor when a Dubbo plane hits the Harbour Bridge because passengers were not screened".[14] REX announced that would refuse to pay any security screening costs and is planning to re-deploy aircraft used on the Dubbo–Sydney route.

On 14 March 2013, REX announced that it could cut the weekly services, in response to DCC decision to charge for screening, on the Dubbo–Sydney route from 82 to 73 flights from April 2013 and re-deploying its Dubbo–Sydney aircraft for the Wagga Wagga to Sydney route.[15]

Statistics

Dubbo Airport was ranked 34th in Australia for the number of revenue passengers served in financial year 2018–2019.[3]

Annual passenger and aircraft statistics for Dubbo[3]
Year[1] Revenue passengersAircraft movements
2001–02
104,197(−15.8%)
8,686(−8.2)
2002–03
107,576(+3.2%)
8,916(+2.6%)
2003–04
128,560(+19.5%)
10,236(+14.8%)
2004–05
152,943(+19.0%)
10,550(+3.1%)
2005–06
155,805(+1.9%)
10,826(+2.6%)
2006–07
171,026(+9.8%)
10,294(−4.9%)
2007–08
189,883(+11.0%)
9,470(−8.0%)
2008–09
173,032(−8.9%)
7,397(−21.9%)
2009–10
171,339(−1.0%)
6,627(−10.4%)
2010–11
176,821(+3.2)
6,899(+4.1)
2018–19
199,193
7,481

See also

References
  1. Fiscal year 1 July – 30 June
  2. YSDU – DUBBO (PDF). AIP En Route Supplement from Airservices Australia, effective 2023-09-07
  3. "Airport Traffic Data". Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE). October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019. Refers to "Regular Public Transport (RPT) operations only"
  4. "Dubbo Airport (DBO / YSDU)". Aviation Safety Network.
  5. "Upgrading of Facilities for Introduction of F28 Aircraft, Wagga Wagga Airport" (PDF). Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works. 1984. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  6. "AIR LINK AND FLYPELICAN BRINGING FLIGHTS BACK TO WESTERN NSW". Australian Aviation. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  7. "Flights from Dubbo to Brisbane and Melbourne announced". Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  8. Alison Rehn and David Barrett (10 April 2010). "Dubbo airport PIN taped to security gate". The Daily Telegraph.
  9. Clutterbuck, Angela (7 February 2013). "Rex angst over airport screenings". The Daily Liberal. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  10. "Calls to relax airport security". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 February 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  11. "Dubbo City Council reportedly lied to NSW Deputy Premier" (PDF). 14 February 2013. Regional Express. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  12. Clutterbuck, Angela (7 February 2013). "It's 'fairly simple' to run parallel departure systems: Rex". The Daily Liberal. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  13. "REX complains to ACCC over Dubbo airport plan". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  14. Saad, Abanob (20 February 2013). "Security stoush". The Daily Liberal. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  15. "REX Redeploys Dubbo Services" (PDF). Regional Express. 14 March 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
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