Horn Island (Ngurapai) Airport (HID)

Departures from Horn Island (Ngurapai) Airport (HID) at a glance

• 3flights a day72nd busiest of 111 airports
• 1route from here
• 1airline
• 11:55 – 18:20first and last00061218

Collected 29 October 2026. Not live — check with the airline before booking.

Horn Island (Ngurapai) Airport (HID) is on Airport Road, Horn Island, in the Torres Strait in Queensland, almost 8 kilometres from Thursday Island. The island's name is also spelled Ngurupai. Torres Shire Council owns and operates the airport and holds its aerodrome certificate.

The council says arriving passengers can reach Thursday Island by ferry or travel on to the outer islands by plane or helicopter.

This site's schedule records show direct flights with Qantas to Cairns.

The terminal at Horn Island Airport

The council's airport page lists these facilities:

• a main terminal area, with outdoor pergola seating for all passengers
• toilets
• a kiosk
• pay and direct dial phones
• an ATM
• vending machines
• a Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) Biosecurity Office
• security screening for Qantas flights
• an air-conditioned Qantas departure lounge with toilets

A chapel was added to the terminal in 2015.

Airport security status and Commonwealth screening criteria

Torres Shire Council describes the airport as a Tier 2 security controlled airport and a first point of entry, subject to biosecurity and Border Force requirements.

A Commonwealth aviation security page for aircraft operators says an open charter or regular public transport air service must be screened if it:

• uses aircraft with a seating capacity of 40 or more persons
• operates from an Australian designated, tier 1 or tier 2 security controlled airport
• uses any aircraft departing from the same apron as a screened air service operating at a designated airport

When the liquids restrictions apply

The Department of Home Affairs says its restrictions on powders, liquids, aerosols and gels apply in these situations:

• when departing Australia
• when transiting through Australia from one country to another
• when travelling on the domestic leg of a flight departing from an Australian international terminal
• before boarding an inbound flight at its last point of departure before it reaches Australia

Getting from Horn Island Airport to Thursday Island

The airport and Thursday Island are on different islands, and the transfer the council describes is by road and then by ferry. It says arriving passengers can travel around Horn Island by taxi or take a ferry to Thursday Island, and that "All Qantas arrivals and departures align with ferry services."

The council's airport page lists these ferry operators:

• Kaiwalagal Ferries & Horn Island Transport
• Rebel Marine / Torres Strait Tours
• Time and Tide Transport

Kaiwalagal Ferries & Charters says it runs an air-conditioned bus from the terminal to the jetty, then a passenger vessel across the harbour to Thursday Island that takes about 10 minutes. It says passengers flying in can reserve a seat, or buy a ticket from its bus driver at the front of the terminal on arrival.

The council's ferry services page lists Rebel Marine / Torres Strait Tours for a Thursday Island to Horn Island return service. Its Horn Island page says the public wharf provides the interchange between the aerodrome and the Thursday Island ferry.

Visiting Torres Strait Island Regional Council communities

For travel beyond the Torres Shire Council region, the council points visitors to the Torres Strait Island Regional Council (TSIRC) for information about visiting the Torres Strait Island communities. TSIRC says all visitors must submit a visitor registration form before arriving in its communities, and that the elected Councillor for the division reviews each request. It also says all visitors to its communities must sign in at the local Council office on arrival.

Biosecurity: taking goods from the Torres Strait to the mainland

The council recommends that passengers review biosecurity regulations when travelling to or from the Torres Strait. DAFF places Horn Island in the Torres Strait permanent biosecurity monitoring zone, the zone closest to mainland Australia, together with Thursday, Wednesday, Prince of Wales and Hammond islands.

DAFF's page on moving goods in the Torres Strait says these high-risk goods can only be moved south from any Torres Strait island to mainland Australia if the department grants a permit:

• fresh fruit and vegetables
• live animals, including insects
• live plants, including cuttings, seedlings or plant products
• soil
• used machinery and equipment with animal, plant material or soil contamination
• untreated hides or skins or other animal products
• meat or dairy products (excluding canned items)
• poultry products, including eggs or feathers with skin still attached

DAFF's page on biosecurity in northern Australia says: "It is against the law to move plant and animal material, including fruit, from the Torres Strait to the mainland."

The moving-goods page also says personal effects and other items going from either biosecurity zone to mainland Australia should be free from soil, seeds, plant or animal material, and that travellers should arrange for a biosecurity officer to inspect goods before departure. Permit applications are made online, and for animals, plants, soil and animal products they are lodged 7 days before departure. Cats and dogs need a permit, treatment against fleas and ticks, and an inspection within 5 days of departure.

DAFF's Thursday Island office is on 07 4212 0185. The Queensland Government asks travellers to follow the quarantine restrictions that apply to fruit, soil or plants when moving between biosecurity zones in Cape York and the Torres Strait, and to place plant material in the amnesty bins when leaving the zones. Biosecurity Queensland is on 13 25 23.

Direct domestic flights recorded from Horn Island Airport

This site's schedule records show direct domestic flights from Horn Island Airport to the place below, with the airline recorded on the route.

Destination	Airport	Airline recorded
Cairns	Cairns Airport (CNS)	Qantas

Horn Island and the township of Wasaga

The council's Horn Island page gives the island an area of 53 square kilometres, mainly vacant Crown land, and says the aerodrome occupies 6 square kilometres of it. It lists the township of Wasaga as the main urban area, with general stores, churches, a community hall, a motel, a hotel and a bulk storage facility for cargo. Next to the public wharf is a cargo wharf, which the council says was built mainly to serve a gold mine and is now used as a public cargo wharf.

History of Horn Island Airport

Before 1939, Thursday Island was served by a light aircraft strip on the north side of the island. Joint Civil Aviation and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) inspections in 1937 found the north side of Horn Island the most suitable site, and in 1939 the Queensland Main Roads Commission began a single-runway aerodrome there (the present runway 14/32). The first aircraft landed on 22 April 1940, and a second runway, 08/26, was completed on 29 January 1941.

The RAAF then took the aerodrome over as an advanced operational base and held operational control for the next five years, and both runways were sealed. The Department of Transport took the aerodrome over on 31 July 1946. Torres Shire Council later took over ownership from the Department of Transport, after upgrades to both runways, the taxiway and the apron and the construction of a new passenger terminal building.

In 1997 the Queensland Main Roads Department sealed the road from the airport to the passenger ferry wharf, which the council calls the final link to Thursday Island. The airport was awarded Small Regional Airport of the Year in 2015, the year the chapel was added to the terminal.

Horn Island in the Second World War

The Queensland Government says the RAAF's Horn Island Advanced Operational Base was built between late 1939 and 1941 and upgraded during 1942. It describes the airfield as an important staging base for Allied air missions against the Japanese and a stop-over for fighter aircraft heading to New Guinea, and says the two wartime runways are now the airport's runways 32 and 26.

The surviving elements it lists include concrete-lined trenches and bunkers, aircraft dispersal bays, Bofors gun pits on Bofors Ridge, Japanese bomb craters and heavy anti-aircraft gun stations. It also lists aircraft wrecks near the airfield, among them B-17s and a P-47 Thunderbolt.

Questions about Horn Island Airport

Who runs Horn Island Airport?

Torres Shire Council owns and operates Horn Island Airport and holds its aerodrome certificate.

Is Horn Island Airport on Thursday Island?

No. The airport is on Horn Island, almost 8 kilometres from Thursday Island, and the council says arriving passengers can reach Thursday Island by ferry.

What DAFF's pages say about taking fruit from Horn Island to the mainland

DAFF's moving-goods page lists fresh fruit and vegetables among the high-risk goods that can only be moved from any Torres Strait island to mainland Australia if the department grants a permit. Its northern Australia page says it is against the law to move plant and animal material, including fruit, from the Torres Strait to the mainland.

Does Horn Island observe daylight saving?

No. Queensland does not observe daylight saving, and neither do Western Australia or the Northern Territory. New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory do.