SOUTHERN Grampians Council hopes to again attract a commercial passenger air service between Hamilton and Melbourne following the completion of a $5.2 million upgrade of Hamilton airport.
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Southern Grampians mayor Peter Dark said the upgrade had extended the airport’s north/south runway to 1700 metres, allowing bigger planes to land.
Cr Dark said the upgrade would also help the airport become an all weather facility, avoiding the situation when Hamilton had an air passenger service and people had to be transferred to Portland by road when Hamilton was fogged in.
He said opening the airport up to bigger aircraft would also increase possibilities for air freight of products such as meat out of Hamilton.
The longer runway would also make it easier for fire bombing aircraft that have been stationed at Hamilton over summer, providing improved security in the case of natural emergencies, Cr Dark said.
The upgrade was funded with $702,000 from the council, $2.3 million from Regional Development Victoria. $1.475 million from the Regional Aviation Fund and $738,000 from the Local Government Infrastructure Program.
Sharp Airlines dropped Hamilton from its passenger air service in 2014 and relocated to Warrnambool.
As well as extending the runway, the $5.2 million upgrade includes improvements to the airport terminal, strengthening and resealing of the apron and taxiways, a new LED apron and runway lighting system including floodlighting of the apron, new office buildings, an expansion of the car park and installation of a Precision Approach Path Indicator System (PAPI) to provide guidance information to help pilots take the correct approach.
Cr Dark said the airport redevelopment would help attract further private investment in the region and enable the airport to cement its position as an economic, emergency service and transport hub for the south-west.
The redevelopment forms part of the Hamilton Airport Masterplan that was adopted by the council in 2011 and aimed to provide a long term planning framework for the sustainable use of what was an important strategic asset for the shire.
Cr Dark thanked the state government for its support of the project.