Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Mount Isa Airport sits some 3.4 nautical miles north of the outback mining city of Mount Isa in north-west Queensland, and is the region's principal gateway, linking the Gulf and Channel Country to Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns. It offers a single long hard runway well suited to airline and charter operations, and hosts one of the Royal Flying Doctor Service's Queensland bases. For a visiting VFR pilot it is a straightforward outback aerodrome with a CTAF and a Brisbane-based flight service frequency rather than a control tower.
Mount Isa Airport (ICAO YBMA, IATA ISA) serves the western Queensland mining city of Mount Isa. It is owned and operated by Queensland Airports Limited, which also runs Townsville, Longreach and Gold Coast airports, and is served by Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Alliance Airlines and Virgin Australia on routes across the Gulf, Channel Country and to the coast. The field is also home to one of the Royal Flying Doctor Service's nine Queensland bases, underlining its role as a key aviation hub for a remote and sparsely populated part of the state.
The airport lies about 3.4 nautical miles north of the centre of Mount Isa, in the north-west of Queensland. Radio communications are handled through a CTAF rather than a control tower, with a flight service frequency provided under Brisbane Centre, indicating the field operates as a non-towered aerodrome within the Brisbane Flight Information Region.
The airport has a single physical runway, 16/34, of hard surface construction measuring 8,405 feet in length and equipped with runway lighting. There is no instrument landing system available at the field.
Pilots should use the CTAF on 126.5 MHz for aerodrome traffic, with a flight service frequency of 122.4 MHz available under Brisbane Centre for broader flight information services in the area.
Mount Isa Airport has long served as the aerial gateway to the mining city and surrounding outback region. Ownership passed to Queensland Airports Limited following privatisation by the Federal Government in February 2005. The airport's most serious associated accident occurred on 22 September 1966, when a Vickers Viscount departed Mount Isa for Brisbane via Longreach and suffered an in-flight engine fire; the aircraft crashed west of Winton with the loss of all on board, an accident that remains among the worst in Australian civil aviation history. More recently, in 2019 the airport served as a base for relief efforts during the North West Queensland floods.
The airport continues to operate as a regional hub for north-west Queensland, handling scheduled services from Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Alliance Airlines and Virgin Australia to destinations including Brisbane, Townsville, Cairns and numerous outback communities. It remains home to a Royal Flying Doctor Service base, reflecting its importance for aeromedical coverage of the surrounding region.