Wagga City Council has revealed it is owed money by financially-stricken flight operator JetGo – but the mayor won’t say how much and has flagged services may remain grounded for up to a month.
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The financial turbulence comes after JetGo, a Brisbane-based regional airline, was placed into voluntary administration on Friday and suspended all its flights nationally until further notice.
The grounding of the company’s passenger services happened within weeks of Dubbo Regional Council taking legal action against the airline over claims of unpaid fees worth about $270,000.
Albury City Council said it, too, hadn’t been paid passenger and security screening charges totalling about $250,000.
On Monday, Wagga mayor Greg Conkey confirmed the council was owed “some money” for JetGo’s use of its airport.
However, Cr Conkey was tight-lipped on the size of the debt when questioned by the Advertiser, citing commercial “in confidence” and the company being in administration.
“There are some fees outstanding here; certainly not in the same category as, I understand, Dubbo,” Cr Conkey said.
“They [Dubbo council] are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars; we’re not in that position but they certainly owe us some money.
“I’m not at liberty to say how much at this stage, because they’re in voluntary administration and hopefully we can work with the administrator to make a payment plan come into existence.
“We’ll be working with the administrator. If things deteriorate ... well, we’ll certainly be open and frank with the ratepayers, but at the moment it’s in confidence.”
Pressed further on the outstanding amount, the mayor said: “I can’t give you that figure, but it really is not in the same ballpark as Dubbo, so we’re far better off than what Dubbo is.”
JetGo operates services to Brisbane and the Gold Coast from Wagga and Cr Conkey said the unpaid fees related mostly to landing charges.
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JetGo was given passenger tax relief to get its flights of the ground, which was standard for any new operator at the airport, he said.
The mayor said JetGo’s suspension of flights was “a disappointment”, given the Wagga-Brisbane route was the second most popular across its network. He spoke to the company’s managing director, Paul Bredereck on Saturday.
“He filled me in on the reasons why and one was because of an investor issue with an overseas investor and another issue concerning maintenance,” Cr Conkey said.
“There’s a few other issues as well, but maintaining the aircraft has caused them a few issues.
“They’re hopeful that by July they'll be able to resume services; it depends on a number of discussions that they’re undertaking at the moment.”
JetGo’s administrators, Jonathan Paul McLeod and Bill Karageozis of Brisbane-based McLeod & Partners, were contacted for comment.
The Advertiser was told investigations were under way and no comment would be made, at this stage.
Meanwhile, Cr Conkey said it was too early for the council to begin lobbying another airline to fill the void, should JetGo flights fail to resume.
“It’s still early days and JetGo are telling us that hopefully they may be able to resume services in July – and we certainly hope that’s the case,” he said.
“The information that they’ve supplied to me is for anybody who has tickets and an itinerary in July or beyond to keep that itinerary because they’re hopeful those people may be able to use those tickets then.”
Qantas has set up a hotline – 1300 659 116 – and offered special fares to customers affected by the suspension of JetGo flights.
The Advertiser asked Regional Express (Rex) if it would also assist Wagga travellers left stranded by the flight suspension. A spokeswoman said: “Rex does not wish to comment.”
