Lake Macquarie Airport

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Lake Macquarie Airport is an airfield located in the Lake Macquarie suburb of Pelican, 15km south of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. For most of its history, the airfield functioned as the base for Aeropelican Air Services, who operated commuter flights to and from Sydney using DHC-6 Twin Otters, however services were withdrawn in 2006 and the airfield was sold to the Mirvac Group for $5.5 million in 2008. The airport is located on a narrow peninsula between the Pacific Highway and a shallow tidal inlet that forms the entrance to Lake Macquarie. The current tenants are nationwide skydiving company, Skydive the Beach and Beyond, whose Newcastle tandem skydiving drop zone operates here, along with Red Bull Air Race pilot Matt Hall.Past proposals for useLake Macquarie City Council has expressed an interest in maintaining the site for aviation uses. Although the airport is privately owned and council has limited control over the site, zoning restrictions encourage future aviation use. The Council's Lifestyle 2030 Strategy development plan, published in March 2013 identifies the airport as having "ongoing potential for use by commuter aircraft" to serve Sydney and regional areas while generating business and employment opportunities. The council has previously rejected a proposal to redevelop the airport into housing estates.