TAMWORTH Regional Council (TRC) held an extraordinary meeting this week as BAE Systems begins winding up its operation at the airport.
Councillors met on Wednesday to endorse an initial agreement between TRC and BAE Systems for the flight school to surrender its current lease at the airport and transfer assets back to council.
The Heads of Agreement supported by the councillors in a closed meeting will form the basis of a formal commercial contract which will have to be signed-off on by council once again before it’s bye bye BAE.
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Mayor Col Murray expected it to be all wrapped-up “around the end of 2019 with some minor carryover” into the following year.
Cr Murray made a point to express how good BAE had been for the city as a “corporate citizen”.
Tamworth recently missed out on Qantas’ vaunted pilot academy, with Toowoomba announced as the first of two cities to secure the commercial training facility.
Tamworth is still in the mix to be named as the second site, however Cr Murray said at the time of the first announcement BAE’s continuing presence at the airport could have played into Qantas’ decision.
Qantas wanted to open the doors on its first training facility by mid-2019.
The Academy is expected to eventually grow to train as many as 500 pilots a year across two sites, including for other airlines and general aviation.
A decision on the second site will be made before the end of the year.
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
