Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Longreach Airport in Central Western Queensland is one of the most historically significant airfields in Australian aviation, having served as the original operational base for the airline that became Qantas. Today it remains a working regional airport with a single sealed runway, a Royal Flying Doctor Service base, and strong links to its wartime and pioneering past, making it a rewarding stop for any simulator pilot exploring the outback.
Longreach Airport (YLRE) serves the town of Longreach in Central Western Queensland, Australia, acting as the aerial gateway to the region and connecting it to Brisbane and Townsville. It is one of the founding sites of the airline that grew into Qantas, and one of the original Qantas hangars still survives on the airfield. For a sim pilot, Longreach offers a long single hard runway set in classic outback terrain, combined with a rich aviation heritage that includes early airline operations and a wartime role hosting American heavy bombers.
Longreach sits within Brisbane Centre's area of responsibility, with the field lying close to Longreach town centre and just off the Landsborough Highway to the northeast. It is a remote inland aerodrome without a control tower, operating as an uncontrolled field with traffic coordinated on a common traffic advisory frequency.
The airfield has a single physical runway, 04/22, of 6329 feet with a hard surface, lit for night operations. There is no ILS approach.
Traffic at Longreach should broadcast on the CTAF, 126.7 MHz. A flight service frequency of 122.1 MHz is also listed for the field, and overlying airspace is worked by Brisbane Centre.
The airfield lies close to Longreach town and adjacent to the Landsborough Highway, which runs past the northeastern edge of the town and provides a useful line feature for pilots inbound to the field.
Although the airline later known as Qantas was founded in nearby Winton, Longreach became its first operational base, with pioneers Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness establishing operations there after their survey work had revealed the potential of aviation for remote Australia. One of the original Qantas hangars from this era still stands at the airport. During the Second World War, Longreach briefly hosted United States Army Air Forces B-17 bombers of the 28th and 93d Bombardment Squadrons in 1942, and the airfield was upgraded to handle the additional weight of these heavy aircraft before they departed to fight in the Battle of the Coral Sea; spent shell casings from their guns have reportedly been found near the runways since. At that time the airport had three operational runways, and by the 1960s Longreach was among the busiest inland airports in Australia. The Longreach Flight Service Unit, descended from an Aeradio station opened in 1941, was closed by the Department of Aviation in 1990, after which the airport passed to the ownership of the Longreach Shire Council.
Longreach Airport has been owned and operated by Queensland Airports Limited under a 99-year lease since October 2012, and it marked ten years under that ownership in 2022. The airport continues to support the region's tourism, business and community travel, connecting passengers to Brisbane and Townsville and serving as a launch point for visitors to attractions such as the Qantas Founders Museum and the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame. The Royal Flying Doctor Service operates one of its nine Queensland bases from Longreach Airport. Recent infrastructure work has included the installation of solar panels to reduce reliance on mains power and upgrades to wildlife fencing around runway operations.