Last week, NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance lashed out at the Deputy Prime Minister for ignoring his proposal to fix the ongoing struggle the state’s small airports face to get a landing slot into Sydney.

Mr Constance wants to see the hourly cap of slots into Sydney Airport increased from 80 to 85, and quarantine those additional five extra slots for regional flights. To do this, the federal government must alter the Sydney Airport Management Act.

A spokeswoman for Mr Joyce said access for regional NSW communities to Sydney Airport was a key priority.

“However neither the Deputy Prime Minister, nor the minister responsible, have received any correspondence from the NSW government on this proposal and we encourage the NSW Government to at least make the issue a priority,” she said.

“We are always open to consider proposals to amend aspects of the demand management arrangements at Sydney Airport.

“Any modification to the current demand management framework would require legislative amendment through both houses.”

Last week, Mr Constance told the Sydney Morning Herald the Deputy Prime Minister had been obstinate on the issue and was “completely and utterly out of touch on what is required to drive regional aviation opportunities”.

“Barnaby Joyce quite frankly has his head in the sand,” he said.

But Mr Joyce, the federal Agriculture and Water Resources Minister, hit back at his state colleague, saying Mr Constance would “do well to realise” that his ministry had no oversight of the laws governing aircraft slots at Sydney Airport.

“I’ve not received a word from this person, not a letter, not so much as a phone call – in fact, I wouldn’t know him if he stood up in my cornflakes,” Mr Joyce said.

Mr Joyce’s spokeswoman said the Coalition already supported regional NSW access to Sydney Airport through previous changes to the Sydney Airport Slot Management Scheme in 2001 and long-standing pricing protections for regional airlines. “It was the Coalition which capped these pricing protections at 2002 levels in May last year,” she said.