THE much-anticipated report from an inquiry into the future of regional aviation was released on Thursday, with a clear warning to the state government that, without swift action, there will be a continuing decline in services.
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Chairman of the standing committee on state development Rick Colless said its inquiry, which visited Tamworth and Moree in July, had found a 54 per cent reduction in the number of airlines providing regular passenger services to regional NSW since 2005, with the number of regional centres with regular services plummeting 37 per cent.
“It is important that the government takes action now to guard against any further loss of service,” he warned.
The inquiry has made 21 recommendations in all, including lifting the cap on regional airlines accessing Kingsford Smith Airport and the removal of regional turboprop aircraft from the cap, the reserving of special slots at the airport for regional communities to ensure better access, and the shifting of the responsibility for regional air services from the transport portfolio to regional infrastructure and services.
It has also recommended the establishment of a taskforce under the direction of the minister for regional infrastructure.
Guyra-based MLC Scot MacDonald, who sits on the six-person committee, said the inquiry had found regional centres of more than about 35,000 people were capable of sustaining regular passenger services, but below that the situation was dire.
No-one is more aware of the challenges of attracting – and keeping – a passenger airline than Narrabri Shire Council mayor Conrad Bolton, and he likes what he sees in the report.
He believes it’s a comprehensive assessment of the issue and brings recommendations to the table that could help breathe life back into the regional airline sector.
Cr Bolton said his council welcomed the first recommendation in the report for a more coordinated approach between local communities, the mining industry, Civil Aviation Safety Authority and state government.
Mr MacDonald said one of the things that had struck him during the course of the inquiry was the “great divide” between communities with mining resources and those without when it came to attracting a regular airline service.
Certainly in Narrabri’s case, the mining boom is strengthening the town’s case for a regular carrier, which it has been without since the demise of Vincent Aviation in May.
