WTB – Regional Australia’s biggest little airport

The airport sits just 20 minutes outside of Toowoomba, a thriving regional city at the heart of south-east Queensland’s beautiful Darling Downs region. The airport, as well as the complementary planned infrastructure for the Wellcamp site it shares, has been hailed as a gamechanger for the local community, bringing jobs and improved connectivity to the region spanning from the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane, south to Tenterfield, Casino and Goondiwindi, west to Roma and Miles, and north to Kingaroy and Rockhampton. In fact, this regional airport has the 11th largest airport catchment in Australia.

The Wellcamp Airport terminal is capable of handling up to 1.5 million passengers per year, and boasts 10 check-in desks, bag-drop facilities, common-user self-serve kiosks, car hire desks, retail and dining options, and an outdoor garden with children’s play area overlooking the runway.

The airport, and the 800-hectare site it sits upon, is owned and operated by Wagner Corporation – a family-owned infrastructure services and property development company.

Meet the Wagners

The Wagner family has been a powerhouse for construction in Queensland since 1856, and over the last 165 years has been a major contributor to the development of regional Queensland and the wider Queensland economy.

In 1989 Henry Wagner and sons John, Denis, Neill and Joe established the construction materials and infrastructure company Wagners, which was later recognised by the state government for its significant impact on the history of Queensland development.

The family decided to meet their passion for aviation with their desire to bring better connectivity and growth to the Toowoomba region, by choosing to build what was first known as Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport on the 800-hectare site at Wellcamp Downs. The family had owned the site that the airport now stands for over 25 years, and now see Wellcamp Airport as a staple in what has become the Wellcamp Business Park and home to the proposed Entertainment Precinct.

The history of WTB

Construction of the WTB began in April 2012, and was completed in record time, just 19 months later. Notably, all materials used in the construction of the airport’s 2.86-kilometre runway were sourced from the original Wellcamp Downs development site, greatly reducing the impact on the local community and the environment. More than 10 million tonnes of rock were used in the construction of the airport precinct.

Originally named Brisbane West Wellcamp, the regional airport received its Civil Aviation Safety Authority certification to operate as a public airport on 24 October 2014. It welcomed its first regular public transport flight on 17 November 2014, when QantasLink flight QF2016 touched down at the Darling Downs airport at 8:45am local time after a 106-minute trip from Sydney.

As its inaugural airline partner, Qantas operated multiple passenger services per week between Wellcamp and Sydney when the airport first opened its doors in late 2014. By early 2015, Regional Express also commenced operations at the airport, servicing routes between western Queensland from the Toowoomba hub.

In 2016, Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport was officially designated as a regional international gateway airport, in anticipation of the establishment of a weekly freight link between Toowoomba and Asia. It was announced in October 2016 that Hong Kong-based carrier Cathay Pacific would be adding the Darling Downs airport to its regular Australian freight network, with weekly scheduled freight activities on a Boeing 747-8F.

At the end of 2017, the airport officially announced that it would change its name to Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, to be more in-step with its regional community roots.
Then, in 2018, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce announced that Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport had been chosen as the regional airport to host its upcoming Qantas Group Pilot Academy. Joyce said at the time of the decision that Toowoomba was the most suitable of all proposed sites, and that “the best airport has won”.

Qantas Group Pilot Academy

In 2018, Wellcamp Business Park and Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport became the first regional site for the establishment of the Qantas Group Pilot Academy, which has the ability to train up to 250 new Qantas pilots each year.

Adelaide-headquartered Flight Training Adelaide was chosen to run the training program on behalf of Qantas, and has since set up shop at the Toowoomba Wellcamp Business Park. The facility trains cadets from the ground up, in a mix of Diamond DA40 single engine and DA42 multi-engine aircraft.

The world-class training facility has an array of creature comforts to ensure the student pilots are well looked after during their stay. These include: volleyball and basketball courts, recreational rooms, gym, modern living and study quarters, large hangar facilities, flight simulators and more.

Freight operations

Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport has the incredibly unique attribute of being a hub for both local and international freight, providing region’s farmers with unprecedented access to international markets and trade opportunities. The Darling Downs is Queensland’s largest agricultural basin, and the second largest in Australia.

Since 2015, WTB has hosted a regular weekly trade link with Hong Kong via a Cathay Pacific Airways Boeing 747 Freighter. The arrangement marked the first time a Cathay Pacific cargo service had entered into an Australian regional centre, and is Queensland’s only regularly scheduled 747-F standalone dedicated cargo link with Asia.

The link provides producers with the immense opportunity to export local goods, driven largely by the export of local Queensland beef, pork and fresh vegetables. Wellcamp is within 1.5 hours of five meat abattoirs, all of which export beef or pork. Other key exports to Asia include milk powder, seasonal produce (such as mangoes) and machine parts, as well as other oversized cargo that cannot fit in the bellies of passenger aircraft.

To cater to such operations, the airport has also built three freight refrigeration units that can be independently temperature controlled to support temperature and/or time-sensitive cargo.

Freight operations are due to expand further mid-2021 with the completion of construction of the new Toowoomba Wellcamp Trade Distribution Centre at WTB. The facility will deliver over 4,000 square metres in gross floor area comprising of 1,500 square metres of state-of-the-art refrigerated storage, freezer rooms and temperature-controlled transit areas as well as a large ambient transit and covered external storage area, and will supercharge access to international markets.

Aircraft storage

The COVID-19 pandemic, while being devastating to passenger traffic figures through the terminal, has provided Wellcamp Airport with some new opportunities for revenue, not least through long-term aircraft storage.

As Australia’s notorious Alice Springs aircraft boneyard and storage facilities began to overflow with demand for long-term aircraft storage solutions amid the unprecedented drop in consumer air travel, Wellcamp was offered an opportunity to handle some of the overflow.

The Wellcamp storage facility now houses a range of current and ex-Virgin Australia Boeing 737s and 777s, ex-Tiger Air A320, as well as boasting some international clientele – most recently an Air Asia A330. Wellcamp Airport has been chosen by the lessors of these aircraft due to the low annual rainfall, low humidity and low salinity in the air – perfect aircraft storage conditions. Wellcamp Airport currently has the capacity to store more than 100 aircraft of all sizes, including the Airbus A380.

Charity and events

For the last number of years, Wellcamp Airport has also become a trusted community venue for social and charitable events. For example, each year, the airport hosts Australia’s richest day-time fundraiser in aid of prostate cancer awareness and research – It’s A Bloke Thing. In 2019, the fundraiser raised over $2 million on the day to go towards the charity.

In March 2021, in honour of International Women’s Day, Wellcamp Airport joined forces with the Qantas Group Pilot Academy to host an event catering to high-school aged girls, as a means to encourage the new generation of women to get involved in aviation. The event worked to show the girls that there are a wide variety of opportunities available to them in the sector, from pilots or engineers, to ATC and business management roles.

Wellcamp Airport is currently working with various event groups to prepare for numerous upcoming large sporting, charity and entertainment events.