Council looks to airport’s future
Wednesday November 19, 2008
Cobar Shire Council will push ahead with investigations into potential upgrades at Cobar Airport, despite the upcoming withdrawal of services by Airlink.
Councillors Michael Cox, Greg Martin and Marsha Isbester will form a subcommittee to prepare a draft strategic plan for the airport.
Council allocated $5,000 in this year’s budget towards the preparation of the plan.
Cr Isbester said councillors should ignore Airlink’s announcement when it comes to planning for the airport’s future.
“The timing of this issue is a bit off.
“A lot of things still need to happen out at the airport, and we need to find out exactly what and how much it will cost,” Cr Isbester said.
A number of councillors expressed their dissatisfaction with Rex (which is the parent company of Airlink) and the handling of its withdrawal from Cobar.
Rex has cited the phasing out of federal government subsidies as a contributing factor to the decision.
“I recognise that the subsidies and pilot shortage are issues.
“I still feel there was a fair degree of grandstanding with that statement and they are holding people to ransom (over the subsidies).
“I’m not sure we are hearing the last word,” Cr Cox said.
Cr Martin said he was concerned the withdrawal would have an effect on medical services in Cobar, with Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) using Airlink to regularly fly specialists to visit Cobar.
“GWAHS aren’t going to charter flights,” he said.
A number of councillors discussed the possibility of flights to Broken Hill also servicing Cobar.
“I think we need to do a bit of ground work and look into the Broken Hill flight schedule,” Cr Martin said.
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