Largest Australian and New Zealand airports (by acreage)

Alice Springs Airport – Source: catprojects.co.au

Below is a list of the largest commercial aviation airports in Australia and New Zealand as measured by total acreage (using hectares and then multiplying by 2.471). Finding this land data proved to be more difficult than one would think it should be, as in most cases it took downloading and reading the individual master plans or annual reports for each airport. Unfortunately, even this level of research was not always successful. To this planner, the total land area of an airport seems to be a key piece of data that should always be easy to find.

Those commercial airports with at least 200,000 passengers for whom data could not be found are listed in a separate list.

1. Alice Springs, NT, Australia = 8,772 acres
2. Brisbane, QLD, Australia = 6,672 acres
3. Melbourne (Tullamarine), VIC, Australia = 5,849 acres
4. Perth, WA, Australia = 5,201 acres
5. Melbourne (Avalon), VIC, Australia = 4,332 acres
6. Auckland, New Zealand = 3,707 acres
7. Sydney (Kingsford Smith), NSW, Australia = 2,242 acres
8. Port Hedland, WA, Australia = 2,422 acres
9. Christchurch, New Zealand = 2,192 acres
10. Broome (proposed new), WA, Australia = 1,977 acres
11. Adelaide, SA, Australia = 1,940 acres
12. Karratha, WA, Australia = 1,784 acres
13. Darwin, NT, Australia = 1,522 acres
14. Hobart, TAS, Australia = 1,404 acres
15. Proserpine (Whitsunday Coast), QLD, Australia = 1,075 acres
16. Gold Coast, QLD, Australia = 894 acres
17. Rockhampton, QLD, Australia = 877 acres
18. Melbourne (Essendon), VIC, Australia = 765 acres
19. Melbourne (Moorabbin), VIC, Australia = 726 acres
20. Mackay, QLD, Australia = 675 acres
21. Mildura, VIC, Australia = 591 acres
22. Lauceston, TAS, Australia = 445 acres
23. Cairns, QLD, Australia = 400 acres
24. Broome (International), WA, Australia = 381 acres
25. Queenstown, New Zealand = 339 acres
26. Nelson, New Zealand = 319 acres
27. Wellington, New Zealand = 270 acres
28. Gladstone, WA, Australia = 221 acres

SOURCES: en.wikipedia.org and the master plans/websites/annual reports of each airport

Brisbane Airport – Source: sunshinecoastdaily.com.au

Could not find data on total hectares or acreage on the following airports – any feedback is most welcome.

• Albury
• Ayers Rock
• Ballina-Byron
• Canberra
• Dunedin, NZ
• Coff’s Harbour
• Hamilton Island (Great Barrier Reef)
• Kalgoorie-Boulder
• Mildura
• Mount Isa
• Newcastle (Williamtown)
• Newman
• Port Macquarie
• Sunshine Coast
• Townsville (joint use facility with the RAAF)
• Wagga Wagga