Yes, QantasLink announced cuts to its Dubbo service last week, however it is crucial we stay focused on the fact that these cuts were made to regional flights across all of regional NSW last week, not just Dubbo.

In relation to total flights, in and out of Dubbo, we can confidently say there are still over 180 a week, which includes 72 to Sydney.

This is down from the previous 80, but this is not necessarily the end of the story, just in the current schedule.

Substantial services to Sydney remain which are provided by two airlines, so passengers aren’t exactly being left high and dry.

What the media have failed to point out is that flight schedules vary all the time, depending on customer need and pilot availability. It is essentially a case of supply and demand.

Council continues to work with all airlines to ensure customer needs are met – and a key component of that is consistency of services.  

So from a traveller perspective we believe it is better that flights are not scheduled, rather than cancelled at the last minute due to pilot availability or insufficient passenger numbers.

Some of the ways that Council has been working with airlines for example, was the Mayoral minute I put to Council on Monday night, which recommended that Council push for Qantas to base their Qantas Group Pilot Academy right here in Dubbo.

If QantasLink are blaming pilot availability for these cuts to regional Australians, let’s offer them the perfect place to set up camp to train the next generation of pilots.

Think about it, Dubbo is such an obvious choice it almost feels silly that we will have to bid for it!

We already have the RFS training facility being built, the soon to be completed major upgrades at the airport have brought the tarmac and lighting up to CASA requirements to facilitate more frequent flights and let bigger planes fly without pavement concessions, we have housing affordability, great weather year round and very light air traffic.

By making Dubbo an attractive option for a Qantas Pilot Training Facility, the Region will prosper economically and socially and airlines will have more support for their services and the reduced schedules we are currently facing are bound to be reviewed.

I have also agreed to provide a letter of support for Cobar Council in regard to them attracting an airline to service that route. So you can see that a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to ensure that Dubbo Regional Airport continues to meet the needs of our clients.

I must say that it is was disheartening to see this whole storm in a tea-cup about cancelled flights, when the very same week Council announced that the Lighting Upgrade as part of the Runway Strengthening Project is complete, which is the real news to come out of the airport recently.

These upgrades are future-proofing the airport and signifies the completion of a major capital works project for Council.

Both myself and Chairman of the Airport Committee Councillor Greg Mohr inspected the runway and the new lights prior to their commissioning last week. 

The new lights will improve the overall condition and performance of the runway lighting and is a one part of a $7.42M infrastructure upgrade at the airport.

This is great news. While Council continues to support this kind of growth and delivers improvements to essential infrastructure such as these, it is obvious that the sky is certainly not falling as far as our airport is concerned.