The airport is settled on mostly reclaimed land and is commercially served year-round by Jetstar, Virgin Australia and Qantas.

It opened in June 1984, with Ansett Australia having exclusive rights to serve the airport, as part of its 50% shareholding.

[3] Ansett sold its shareholding to the BT Hotel Group in May 1998, allowing Qantas to begin to serve the airport.

[4][5][6] The airport suffered heavily in September 2001 with the demise of Ansett Australia, which operated more heavily out of the airport than any other airline with flights to Cairns, Townsville, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

[2] *Sydney route included from July 2009 Media related to Great Barrier Reef Airport at Wikimedia Commons