Cobar Airport

Cobar Airport (IATA: CAZ, ICAO: YCBA) is an airport located 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) southwest of Cobar, a town in New South Wales, Australia.

The airport formerly had scheduled passenger service provided by Regional Express Airlines, but as of December 2008 the airline cancelled all flights into and from Cobar Airport.

Canberra-based Brindabella Airlines announced a non-stop daily service between Sydney and Cobar, which commenced 24 September 2010. The airline used a 19-seater Metroliner aircraft on this route, over a four-month trial period. They were the only remaining passenger airline to serve the airport before going into receivership in December 2013.

Regional Express Airlines started Regular Public Transport air services between Cobar and Dubbo on 31 August 2015. They use an 18-seat Beech 1900D aircraft for this route, the same one used between Dubbo and Sydney.

Facilities

The airport is 724 ft (221 m) above mean sea level. It has two runways: 05/23 with an asphalt surface measuring 1,519 by 30 metres (4,984 ft × 98 ft) and 17/35 with a clay surface measuring 1,221 by 30 metres (4,006 ft × 98 ft).

Cobar

Cobar is a town in central western New South Wales, Australia. The town is 712 km (442 mi) northwest of the state capital, Sydney. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way (to Queensland) and Barrier Highway (to South Australia). The town and the local government area, the Cobar Shire, are on the eastern edge of the outback. At the 2011 census, Cobar had a population of 3,817, out of Cobar Shire's population of about 4,700. The Shire has an area of 44,065 square kilometres (17,014 sq mi)—about two-thirds the size of Tasmania.

History

The name Cobar is derived from the Aboriginal Ngiyampaa word for copper Kuparr, Gubarr or Cuburra, meaning 'red earth' or 'burnt earth', the ochre used in making body paint for Corroborees. The name also represents an Aboriginal attempt to pronounce the word 'copper'.

Some of the most significant Aboriginal rock art in NSW is within the shire. The indigenous Ngiyampaa/Wangaapuwan traditions of this diverse bio-region are best represented in the rock art of Mount Grenfell, 40 km west of Cobar. Over 1,300 depictions of humans, hand stencils and animals are at this site.