Dubbo City Council has reported a NSW court has found in its favour in proceedings brought against it by airline Regional Express (Rex).
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The company went to the NSW Land and Environment Court last year after the council introduced security screening for all passengers at Dubbo City Regional Airport and resolved to charge their carriers.
A figure of $242,360 had been invoiced to Rex with no payments received by the council, staff said in a report to a council meeting in March.
It had introduced the security screening required under federal law for larger planes when Qantaslink brought its 74-seat Q400 aircraft to the city a year earlier.
Yesterday the council said the court's decision confirmed it could conduct security screening services at the airport on a full-cost recovery basis, that costs could be charged to all regular passenger transport operators using the airport and that fees could be spread across all flying passengers including those of both Rex and Qantaslink.
Dubbo mayor Mathew Dickerson said the decision supported the council's position on the security screening issue.
"This judgment confirms Dubbo City Council acted lawfully and the fees applied to both Rex and Qantaslink can be legitimately claimed," he said.
The council advised it would review the judgment in full and consider further actions required.
The Daily Liberal invited comment from Rex but no response had been received at the time of going to press.