AUSTRALIA'S $46 million Antarctic airstrip is melting, leaving the government scrambling to find a new air link to the frozen continent.

The Wilkins runway — carved into ice near Casey station, about 3400 kilometres south-west of Hobart — was commissioned under the Howard government and hailed at its 2008 opening by then Environment Minister Peter Garrett.

Wilkins runway near Casey Station, about 3,400 kilometres south-west of Hobart.

But unexpected surface melt has sharply curtailed use of the summer-time airstrip.

Instead of the up to 20 chartered flights by an Airbus A-319 predicted by the Australian Antarctic Division before the runway opened, only four flights landed last season. In 2010-2011 there were two.