'Not up to required standards': Airport upgrade needed for bigger planes

It wants to see $200 million in funding for regional airports be reinstated by the federal government - something that could help secure the future of the city's "crucial" airport.

Previous estimates have put the cost of the region's airport upgrade at $10 million but prices have risen significantly since then.

Warrnambool City councillors unanimously voted on Monday, April 8, 2024 to back a motion that will go before Australian Local Government Association's national general assembly in July calling for the regional airports program to be reintroduced.

Cr Max Taylor said infrastructure at regional airports was "not up to required standards" by commercial airlines despite there being a strong interest from airlines in establishing more services.

"Local government does not have the capacity to fund expensive infrastructure upgrades and needs the support of the federal government to finance the extension of the Warrnambool airport and continue maintenance of the airstrip apron open parking area which is in constantly requiring upgrading owing to larger, heavier aircraft using the airport," he said.

Mayor Ben Blain said the move to get federal funding reinstated was "setting the scene", and the next step in the council's push to secure an airport upgrade.

It comes on top of the council's recent call to get the state government to also start funding regional airports - a proposal Warrnambool will put to the Municipal Association of Victoria conference.

"Airports moving forward - especially in Victoria in a rate-capped environment - it can't be the expectation of council to be able to fund an airport because they are expensive," he said.

The federal government in the past has had funding programs dedicated to regional airport upgrades but that is no longer the case.

While a white paper on outlining future upgrades at regional airports will be released later this year by the government, the association is lobbying for funding to be double that offered in previous programs. It wants $200 million to be set aside for regional airports.

Cr Taylor said regional airports were a valued community asset managed and maintained by local government and supported export and agriculture industry as well as being used for medical evacuations and supporting bushfire operations.

Warrnambool's airport was also a gateway to world-renowned tourist destinations in our district, he said.

Cr Richard Ziegeler said it was "vital" the council got the financial support it needed for the airport.

"While we're just maintaining the airport as it is, we have very little capacity for increasing or improving the services of it," he said.

"It's becoming more and more of an essential service... for emergencies including medical emergencies."

Cr Angie Paspaliaris said the airport was "crucial" for Warrnambool's future. "We're advocating strongly for a lot of improvement," she said.

Cr Paspaliaris said local governments did not have the capacity to fund expensive infrastructure upgrades and required federal government support.

Cr Vicki Jellie said there needed to be "a lot of money poured into regional airports everywhere".

Member for Wannon Dan Tehan said funding to upgrade the Warrnambool airport was desperately needed.

"Over the last decade there have been significant improvements made to the Warrnambool airport," Mr Tehan said.

"Anything that can be done to lengthen the runway would add to our ability to attract more tourists to the area, which is obviously vital to the region considering we're the home of the Great Ocean Road."