Council's current lease of Wagga Airport from the Department of Defence, which expires in 2025, has long been a source of frustration.

Currently, Wagga ratepayers are forking out $200,000 a year for the use of the airport under a lease agreement general manager Peter Thompson has described as "unsustainable".

Initially council was optimistic the city might take over the ownership of the airport from the federal government, however Mr Thompson confirmed this week that option is now off the table.

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"The ownership issues have been put to bed, Defence has come back to us and explained why they don't want to give up ownership for strategic reasons," he said, adding council has seen and accepted the strategic reasons.

Negotiations of a more favourable lease arrangement are still ongoing, and a notice of motion passed this week is hoping to aid the process.

Put forward by Councillor Dan Hayes, the motion called for a report into developing a strategic plan for the future of the airport.

Cr Hayes said a strategic plan would aid lease negotiations, secure a strong future direction regardless of the outcome of the lease, and help identify investment and business options for the important regional gateway.

"One of the key questions that we got at the Senate inquiry is what do we want to see for the future of our airport and what role does it play in the Wagga community," he said.

He said while renegotiating the lease agreements has been an important focus, having a clear vision of the future needs to take centre stage.

"We need to look beyond the challenge of the current lease agreement and that's what this notice of motion is all about," he said.

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On the list of possible planning parameters was tourism, business development, trade and healthcare, as well as looking at investment and commercialisation options.

"A strategic plan has been a missing step in our focus on the airport ... [and] it's probably time we look at the significant role the airport will strategically have for Wagga in the short to medium or even long-term," he said.

The motion was voted in unanimously by councillors.

Council staff will prepare a report into how a strategic plan would be undertaken under the current motion, with any works on the plan to be undertaken once it returns to council.

Wagga Airport ownership

Wagga Council is one of just four regional councils not given ownership of its airport in a handover of more than 200 sites by the federal government in the 1990s.

The site is owned by the Department of Defence but leased and maintained by council and council funds.

Because it is a federal asset, it does not attract funding from the state government and the federal government has given just $2.5 million in grants in more than 15 years.

Mr Thompson said while a more favourable 99-year lease is on the table in current discussions, council remains prepared to walk away from tenancy of the airport if better financial support is not assured.

"To some degree, whether we enter a lease at all hinges upon whether the Commonwealth will help meet some of the costs of maintaining their own airport," Mr Thompson said.

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