The 'resources boom' in north-western Western Australia during the early 1980s saw the introduction of jet RPT services to north-western ports, including Karratha. Departmental policy in those days required a Control Tower at airports served by jet RPT services and, accordingly, one was introduced at Karratha.

It is thought that the Tower service commenced operation on 4 August 1983 using the portable Tower at right in the photo above. This Tower was previously at Parafield during 1980-81 whilst a new permanent Tower cab was being constructed to replace the earlier cab on top of the Ops/Admin building there.

A permanent Tower, seen at left in the photo above, was constructed at a cost of $900,000 and opened in July 1987. 'Network pricing', used at that time to levy airways charges, meant that the cost of a Tower service was spread across the entire industry. That policy would later be changed to 'location specific pricing' which meant that the cost of providing a Tower service at ports such as Karratha, with relatively few movements compared to major ports, became prohibitive. Karratha Tower was deemed to be uneconomical to operate and was closed in the late 1990s.

The building to the left of the Towers is the Flight Service Centre and Briefing Office. This was constructed earlier than the Tower, in about 1983. The FSC and BO also closed during the 1990s as part of the programme of consolidation of Flight Service units into the major Centres.

The portable Tower was later removed and re-assembled at Mangalore, Vic, as part of the proposed National Sport Aviation Centre. This never eventuated but the portable Tower remains there to this day (c.2007).

(Photo: David Eyre)

Click here to see some aerial photos of Karratha from the mid-1980s

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