King Island Airport (KNS)

Departures from King Island Airport (KNS) at a glance

• 2flights a day81st busiest of 111 airports
• 1route from here
• 1airline
• 10:20 – 13:45first and last00061218

Collected 30 October 2026. Not live — check with the airline before booking.

King Island Airport (KNS) is about 10 minutes north of Currie, the main town on King Island, and is owned and operated by King Island Council. Tourism Tasmania's Discover Tasmania guide places the island 80 km off the north-west tip of the Tasmanian mainland.

The council says there is no taxi service on the island, and King Island Tourism recommends booking a hire car before you arrive. A flight from Melbourne Airport (MEL) also crosses into Tasmania's biosecurity rules, which bar fresh fruit and vegetables and ask for clean golf, fishing and camping gear.

Where King Island Airport is and who runs it

King Island Airport is owned and operated by King Island Council. Its airport page says the airport is "10 minutes north from the Island's main township, Currie", and gives its address as 102 Morrison Ave, Loorana. For general enquiries the council lists (03) 6462 9000 during normal office hours.

Tourism Tasmania says Currie is where most of the island's services are, and that the small towns of Grassy and Naracoopa sit on the east coast.

What is at King Island Airport

King Island Council lists public toilets, visitor information brochures, parking and disability access at the airport. Airservices Australia's aerodrome entry for King Island (issue of 3 September 2026) lists a hire car, named as King Island Car Rental, a passenger lounge, refreshments and toilets among its passenger facilities.

The same entry says the terminal is locked outside operational hours.

Getting from King Island Airport to Currie

The council's airport page says cars can be booked in advance and picked up from the airport, which is about 10 minutes north of Currie. It also says there is no taxi service on the island.

King Island Tourism adds that the island has no public transport, no Uber and no shuttle buses, and recommends booking a hire car before arrival to make sure one is available. Its getting-around page says that unless you are on an organised tour or your accommodation has arranged transfers, you will need to hire a car to make the most of your stay, and that local tour operators and private transfer providers can help you see more of the island.

Car hire at King Island Airport

The council names King Island Car Rental and Island Car Hire as the companies whose cars can be booked in advance and picked up from the airport.

King Island Car Rental's own site describes a locally owned business, open 7 days a week, offering airport pickup and drop off, and taking licensed drivers aged 18 to 85. The vehicle types it names include small run-arounds, mid-sized RAV4s, utility vehicles, Land Cruisers, 8-seater people movers and 12-seater mini-buses.

Driving on King Island

King Island Tourism describes the island's roads as a mixture of gravel and sealed, with very few cars, and says some are narrow. It says fuel is available in Currie and Grassy but opening hours can vary.

King Island Tourism's getting-around page says there is no petrol station at the airport, and tells visitors to fill up in Currie before heading out.

Direct domestic flights recorded from King Island Airport

Direct domestic flights recorded from King Island Airport in the site's schedule data go to:

Destination	Airport	Airlines recorded
Melbourne	Melbourne Airport (MEL)	Rex

Flying Rex to and from King Island

Regional Express (Rex) describes itself as operating a fleet of Saab 340 aircraft, and its baggage page sets its allowances for "All regional services operated by SAAB 340 Turboprop". Rex's conditions of carriage also allow it to substitute aircraft.

Check-in, boarding and identification

Rex's check-in page says the airport check-in desk closes 30 minutes before scheduled departure at regional airports in Tasmania, and its check-in table recommends presenting bags 60 minutes before at regional airports. The boarding gate closes 15 minutes before departure at regional airports, and a passenger not ready by then can be excluded from boarding and forfeit the fare.

Web check-in opens 48 hours and closes 60 minutes before scheduled departure. Rex says passengers with special requirements must check in at the airport.

Rex's Travel Requirements page says passengers aged 18 and over must present an acceptable form of identification (ID), and that a passenger with no photographic ID must provide two forms of non-photographic ID, with the name matching the booking. Passengers aged 17 or under need no ID if they travel with, or are presented at check-in by, an identifiable guardian. Rex's conditions of carriage, for their part, ask for "satisfactory photo identification" at check-in.

Baggage and cabin space

For its regional Saab 340 services, Rex's baggage page currently allows 7 kg of carry-on baggage on all fares, and 15 kg of checked baggage on Promo and Saver fares or 23 kg on Flex fares. Items such as overnight bags and briefcases must not exceed 23 cm deep, 34 cm high and 48 cm long, and Rex says carry-on baggage "may be weighed and measured". Check the allowance with Rex before you fly.

A carry-on bag over the limit at the boarding gate is offloaded and carried as checked baggage on the next available flight, and Rex says collecting it at the other end is the passenger's responsibility. Rex describes the Saab 340's cargo compartment as having "only a very limited capacity", and its conditions let it offload checked bags within the allowance when the aircraft is restricted in how much baggage it can carry.

Rex does not accept any single item of baggage over 32 kg.

Stairs and special assistance

Rex's access plan for the Saab 340 refers to the aircraft stairs, and says Rex provides a Disabled Passenger Lifter, a high lift device, at its regular airports for passengers who cannot use stairs.

Rex asks to be told of special requirements at least 48 hours before departure, at booking on its website or through its Customer Contact Centre on 13 17 13. With later notice, Rex says it cannot guarantee the resources required will be available.

When Rex flights are disrupted

Rex's conditions of carriage list inclement weather among events beyond its reasonable control, and say "times of arrival and departure are not guaranteed". If an aircraft cannot safely land at an airport, the conditions allow Rex to land passengers at another airport and then return them or send them on. If Rex changes the flight schedule or cancels the flight booked, its conditions say the passenger may decide to cancel the ticket and obtain a full refund.

When Rex cancels, its disruption page says it will try to offer a seat on another flight the same day or another day, other transport, or a flight to the nearest alternative Rex port. The same page says refreshments may not always be available at some of the regional airports Rex flies to, and that Rex does not bear hotel or taxi costs.

Rex's flight status page shows disruptions and cancellations forecast for today and tomorrow, though it notes that disruptions of less than 15 minutes may not be displayed.

Bringing food, plants and gear into Tasmania

King Island is part of Tasmania, so a flight from Melbourne crosses into Tasmania's biosecurity rules. King Island Council's airport page says the island "is relatively free of many pests, weeds and diseases that are present on mainland Australia", and sends travellers to Biosecurity Tasmania's Traveller's Guide to Tasmanian Biosecurity.

The guide (last published July 2026) says that on arrival in Tasmania some items need to be inspected by a Biosecurity Tasmania officer, who makes the final decision on whether an item is allowed in. The Tasmanian Government's page for travellers says that anyone who finds they have carried biosecurity matter into Tasmania should, immediately on arrival, "declare this to a Biosecurity Officer on duty, or dispose of the matter in the marked biosecurity disposal bin". Biosecurity Tasmania's advice, if in doubt, is to leave risk items at home, and its enquiry line is 1300 368 550.

Food

Biosecurity Tasmania's food page lists:

• Fresh fruit and vegetables, including potatoes, fresh herbs, garlic, ginger and onion: not permitted. Cooked, baked, hard frozen, canned, preserved, commercially dried and freeze dried produce is allowed, and must be declared.
• Meat: allowed if killed in Australia for personal consumption or commercially produced, and must be declared.
• Honey: allowed if commercially filtered to a maximum 0.42 mm pore size and free of wax pieces and bee bits. Unfiltered honey is not permitted unless it was commercially produced in Tasmania and is in its original, unopened, sealed packaging, and honeycomb not produced in Tasmania is not permitted.
• Fish and seafood: abalone, dead or alive, is not permitted. Oysters, clams and mussels from New South Wales or any region known to have Oyster Herpes virus have restricted entry, and fish on the page's Restricted Fish List, such as salmon, trout and eel, may come in if they meet the Animal Biosecurity Manual's requirements.
• Processed food such as dairy, nuts, dried seeds, bread, cakes and jams: allowed if it is identifiable, plants cannot be grown from it, and it is clean and free of bugs, soil or disease. Nuts or seeds that are not dried are not permitted, and nor are fruit and vegetables dehydrated at home from the raw state.

Plants, flowers and seeds

• Cut flowers or foliage from a state or territory with tomato potato psyllid are not permitted. The page names Western Australia and Victoria, and Melbourne is in Victoria.
• Nursery stock, including household pot plants and bulbs, needs Biosecurity Tasmania's Checklist for importing plants.
• Seeds need a Notice of Intention 24 hours before arrival, among other conditions, and genetically modified seeds are not permitted.

Golf, fishing, diving and camping gear

The Tasmanian Government asks travellers to make sure fishing, camping, cycling, bushwalking, hunting, diving, surfing and golf equipment has been checked, cleaned and dried and is free from soil, dirt, seeds and other foreign matter. Biosecurity Tasmania's equipment page (last published June 2024) allows golf clubs, bags, buggies and golf shoes if they are washed to remove any trace of soil, seeds and plant material, and says equipment that has not been adequately cleaned will need treatment to remove soil.

The same page says diving and fishing gear must be fully cleaned, drained and dry, and that a declaration form for it "must be completed and presented on arrival into Tasmania".

Dogs

The Tasmanian Government says dogs entering Tasmania must be declared as treated for hydatid tapeworm, with a worming treatment containing praziquantel within 14 days before entry, and as checked for ticks. King Island Tourism advises checking with the airline before travelling with a cat or dog.

Rex's conditions of carriage accept live domestic animals as excess baggage on flights operated by the Saab 340, except to or from Adelaide, Townsville, Brisbane, Perth or Cairns airports, and pets travel in the pressurised cargo hold. Rex also says it no longer accepts snub-nosed dogs as baggage or freight.

Security screening and liquids rules

When an air service must be screened

The Commonwealth's Cyber and Infrastructure Security Centre says an air service that operates open charter or a regular public transport operation must be aviation security 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

Liquids, aerosols and gels

Under the Department of Home Affairs rules, each container of liquid, aerosol or gel must be 100 mL, 100 g or less, and all containers must fit in one transparent, re-sealable plastic bag. Home Affairs says the restrictions 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
• prior to boarding an inbound flight at its last point of departure before it reaches Australia

What travellers fly to King Island for

Golf

Tourism Tasmania's guide says Cape Wickham Golf Links was ranked Australia's top golf course by Australian Golf Digest for 2024/25, with Ocean Dunes Golf Course also in the top 15. King Island Golf Course is "the relaxed, nine-hole" third course. Golf gear falls under the Tasmanian cleaning rules above.

Walks and the coast

The Calcified Forest short walk (30 minutes, 1.3 km) passes "the calcified remains of a 7000-year-old forest" and is listed among Tasmania's Great Short Walks. The Seal Rocks coastline has the island's highest cliffs, rising 60 m from the sea, and the Copperhead trail is a 4 km return walk of about 90 minutes.

Martha Lavinia Beach, in the island's north-east, is a surf break.

Shipwrecks and the museum

Tourism Tasmania says the seas around King Island have claimed an estimated 140 shipwrecks. The Maritime Trail brochure, picked up from the visitor centre in Currie, passes the sites of eight wrecks. Tourism Tasmania says the Cataraqui, which claimed 400 lives in 1845, remains Australia's worst peacetime maritime disaster.

Tourism Tasmania says the King Island Historical Museum, in the old lighthouse keeper's cottage in Currie, holds "the original, 150-year-old lens from Cape Wickham Lighthouse" and exhibits on shipwrecks, sealing and the old scheelite mine in Grassy.

Food and drink

Tourism Tasmania places King Island Dairy's cheese shop less than a 10-minute drive north of Currie, and calls King Island Brewhouse "Tasmania's most northerly brewery". Tours at King Island Distillery need a call ahead.

Restaurants named in the guide include Wild Harvest in Grassy, View Dining at the golf and bowling club, and the King Island Hotel in Currie. The Restaurant With No Food is a boathouse by Currie Lighthouse where visitors bring their own food and drink.

Festival of King Island

Tourism Tasmania lists the Festival of King Island as a two-day festival in early February.

Services on King Island

King Island Tourism says Currie has a hospital, pharmacy, police station and supermarket, and that patients needing anything beyond routine medical care are transferred to the mainland. Tourism Tasmania says Currie's supermarkets open seven days a week, and that Grassy's small supermarket is closed on Sundays.

On mobile coverage, only Telstra's service is available on the island, according to King Island Tourism, and wifi is available at the Currie library and outside the Currie post office. The same page says the island has no public showers, no formal camp sites (though camping options exist) and no equipment hire companies.

Questions about King Island Airport

Which airline flies from King Island Airport?

The site's schedule data records Rex flying from King Island Airport to Melbourne Airport.

How do I get from King Island Airport to Currie?

The council names King Island Car Rental and Island Car Hire as having cars that can be booked in advance and picked up at the airport, which is about 10 minutes north of Currie. It also says there is no taxi service on the island, and King Island Tourism says there is no public transport.

Can I take fruit and vegetables on a flight to King Island?

Biosecurity Tasmania does not permit fresh fruit and vegetables, including potatoes, fresh herbs, garlic, ginger and onion, into Tasmania. Cooked, baked, hard frozen, canned, preserved, commercially dried and freeze dried produce is allowed, and must be declared.

How early should I get to King Island Airport for a Rex flight?

Rex's check-in table recommends presenting bags 60 minutes before departure at regional airports, and its check-in desk closes 30 minutes before scheduled departure at regional airports in Tasmania. The boarding gate closes 15 minutes before departure.

Which mobile network works on King Island?

According to King Island Tourism, only Telstra's mobile service is available on the island.

Does King Island observe daylight saving?

King Island is in Tasmania, which the New South Wales Government lists among the states and territories that observe daylight saving, with New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not.