Wagga council general manager Alan Eldridge responded to Rex chief Neville Howell's claims about the airport in a statement on Sunday afternoon. It is presented below.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The City of Wagga Wagga would like to respond to a media release issued by Regional Express (Rex) late Friday afternoon.
The City of Wagga Wagga and Rex have a very strong and sound professional relationship. The City of Wagga Wagga understands that in the best interests of our community, it is important to have an equitable and transparent relationship with all our stakeholders.
General Manager of the City of Wagga Wagga Alan Eldridge said Council conducts ongoing operational reviews aimed at achieving efficiencies and every effort is made to keep airport charges equitable, in the interest of the community and to retain fair and workable relationships.
Head taxes charged by the City of Wagga Wagga also remain well below a number of other regional airports – that are nowhere near the standard of the Wagga Wagga facility.
“As a city we simply cannot keep borrowing to pay for annual losses at Wagga Wagga Airport – which has been the case for the past five years, and there is a limit to how much cost cutting we can do” Mr Eldridge said.
“The operations of airports, such as Wagga Wagga Airport, are sophisticated these days and there are significant costs involved in running them.
“We are well aware of the valuable input regional carriers have for our city, and we are very grateful and appreciative of their investment into our city and the region.
“We are continually rationalising our costs and reviewing almost every activity to ensure maximum efficiency in operations, while charging very equitable fees to all who utilise the airport precinct.”
Mr Eldridge added, “It also needs to be acknowledged that some carriers have had long-term financial concessions originally designed to assist in the development and start-up of their business into the Wagga Wagga market. These concessions are now no longer sustainable in the current economic environment.
“Council has been in negotiations with the airlines for some months now, and we have been asking carriers to work with us, and most of them are very reasonable. In the end Council does not expect more than market rate to be paid on airport landing fees.”
Council will continue to hold negotiations with relevant parties in relation to passenger head tax.
“In reality we have no desire to increase fees to any party, but we have no choice, we will have to lift the fees even though some carriers have enjoyed generous concessions in the past,” Mr Eldridge said.
“Additionally, some of the numbers quoted in Friday’s release were totally inaccurate and we can demonstrate this.
"I would like to be very clear, no agreement on passenger head tax has been finalised, but we will be working to find a balance within the next week or so."
The elected Council resolved at its meeting on 31 October 2016 to consider two submissions received in regards to proposed airport fees and charges during the public exhibition period, which was conducted between 5 September and 3 October 2016.
WAGGA WAGGA AIRPORT
The airport that services the City of Wagga Wagga and its surrounds is a first-class operation, and unlike other regional airport outlets.
Wagga Wagga airport features:
- A state-of-the-art fully automated Instrument Landing System
- Full ground Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF) and area radio coverage
- Extra-long runway
- Soon to be upgraded taxiways and terminal upgrades
- World-class terminal and technologically enhanced security monitoring system
- Systems and technologies that allow operations in all weather conditions.
