Tuncurry Airport

The closure was primarily due to economic and practical reasons. The nearby Taree Airport (YTRE), located approximately 25 km away, was developed with superior facilities, including paved runways and scheduled passenger services. This consolidated regional air traffic to Taree, making the small, unsealed Tuncurry strip economically unviable and redundant for most general aviation and charter purposes. The private owners faced declining use and increasing maintenance costs, leading to its eventual abandonment.

The site is completely abandoned and has reverted to native bushland. The faint, straight-line clearing of the former north-south runway is still visible on satellite imagery, located just west of The Lakes Way. There is no remaining infrastructure such as hangars, terminals, or navigational aids. The land is adjacent to the Tuncurry Waste Management Centre and a sand quarry, and it is zoned for rural and environmental conservation, making any future aviation use highly improbable.

Established likely in the early 1960s, Tuncurry Airport was a local general aviation airfield. Its primary role was to serve the private flying community of the Forster-Tuncurry area. Operations included recreational flying by local pilots, flight training, some light air charter services, and agricultural aviation (such as crop dusting). It was a vital piece of local infrastructure for a time but never hosted scheduled Regular Public Transport (RPT) services. Its historical importance lies in its role as a grassroots aviation facility before regional air services were centralized at the larger, more capable Taree Airport.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Tuncurry Airport. Reopening is considered virtually impossible due to several key factors: the full operational capability of the nearby Taree Airport which serves the region's needs, the prohibitive cost of clearing the overgrown land and rebuilding the runway to modern standards, incompatible local council land zoning, and the presence of new obstacles (vegetation and nearby industrial sites).