RAAF Curtin Airport Facts
RAAF Base Curtin is a Royal Australian Air Force base located 35 km southeast of the town of Derby on the north coast of Western Australia. As it is one of the RAAF's three 'bare bases' no Air Force units are currently based at Curtin and it is maintained by a small caretaker staff during peacetime. The base is named in honour of former Prime Minister John Curtin.
RAAF Curtin was the first new major military airfield to be built in Australia since World War II. Construction on the base began in 1983 and it was opened on 11 June 1988. The base has only been activated twice by the RAAF.
From the late 1990s the base operated as Curtin Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, a Commonwealth of Australia immigration detention centre, which closed in September 2002. However the centre was reopened in April 2010 to house around 60 Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers whose applications were suspended.
Since 2007, direct flights have recommenced between Perth and Derby (RAAF Curtin) for the first time since Ansett stopped the service in 1992
RAAF Curtin AirportDestinations
Destination | IATA | Flight |
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Nearest Airports of RAAF Curtin Airport
- Broome Airport distance (173 km)
- Kununurra Airport distance (557 km)
- Port Hedland Airport distance (628 km)
- Roti Airport distance (761 km)
- Newman Airport distance (772 km)
- Karratha Airport distance (818 km)
- Kupang Airport distance (824 km)
- Paraburdoo Airport distance (887 km)
- Darwin Airport distance (950 km)
- Atambua Airport distance (952 km)
- Airports nearest RAAF Curtin Airport