Cooktown Airport Development

Project Overview

Cook Shire Council has committed to developing the aviation industry in Cooktown with the long term goal of developing the Cooktown Airport and associated Aviation Park into a regionally significant aviation precinct servicing Cape York and the Asia Pacific region. Council has developed a Master Plan to establish framework for future planning and development of the Cooktown Airport to ensure Council achieves its strategic objectives and capitalises on the opportunities provided by the airport. A key aspect of the Master Plan is upgrading the aerodrome to a code 3C airport and to protect this rating during the airport's and associated industrial estate's expansion. A copy of the Master Plan can be downloaded here.

Project Milestones

Work on the new airport taxiway, which will connect the Aviation Park with the existing runway, commenced in late July and is expected to be finalised in November. The 550m long taxiway, designed by GHD, includes two layers of concrete pavement and double coat bitumen, and is designed to cater for airplanes up to Dash 8 size. The taxiway project will cost $1.85 million, and is funded by $1.3 million from the Works For Queensland program and $270,000 from the Building Our Regions fund.