Willara Airport

The closure was not due to a singular event like an accident or military conversion. The most probable reason is a combination of economic and operational factors. These typically include: the sale of the property (Willara Station), the station owners no longer operating private aircraft, the prohibitive cost of maintaining the strip to a safe standard, or its redundancy due to improved road infrastructure and the proximity of the public-use Menindee Airport (YMED). In essence, it ceased to be a necessary asset for the station's operations.

The site is completely disused for aviation. Satellite imagery shows the faint, overgrown outline of a dirt runway in the middle of a paddock. The land has reverted to its natural state and is used as part of the surrounding agricultural property for grazing. There are no remaining airport facilities, markings, or infrastructure.

Willara Airport was not a public airport but a private airstrip (or 'station strip') for the vast 'Willara Station' pastoral property. Its significance was entirely local, providing a critical link to the outside world for a remote outback station. When active, it would have handled light aircraft operations for:
- Private transport of station owners, managers, and workers.
- Delivery of mail, urgent supplies, and equipment parts.
- Potentially serving as a landing site for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) for medical evacuations and clinics.
- Supporting agricultural aviation, such as aerial mustering of livestock.
It is a historical example of the thousands of private airstrips that were essential tools for overcoming the 'tyranny of distance' in the Australian outback throughout the mid-to-late 20th century.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the airstrip. Any revival would be entirely dependent on the private landowner having a specific and costly need for a private runway. Given that the nearby Menindee Airport (YMED) serves the region's public, charter, and RFDS needs, there is no economic or logistical incentive to restore this private strip. The prospect of it reopening is effectively zero.