No end to financial friction

TOWNSVILLE Airport officials and Australia’s national carrier are at loggerheads over funding arrangements for a major terminal upgrade.

The $ 80 million redevelopment includes upgrades to the terminal, taxiways, runway apron facilities and core infrastructure, with Townsville Airport planning to recoup $ 40 million of the costs through a $ 3 increase to passenger charges.

Virgin Australia signed an agreement over the fee increase in September 2015 but Qantas has maintained that the cost is too much for it to pay.

Negotiations between Townsville Airport and Qan- tas have been stalled for more than two years.

Townsville Airport – which is owned by Gold Coast- based Queensland Airports Ltd – recently launched a public campaign to gain more support for its proposal but Qantas has hit back, arguing Townsville is a tough market for airlines.

Qantas says a $ 3 passenger charge will mean higher fares and therefore fewer people supporting the air services to and from Townsville.

The Qantas Group has called Townsville Airport’s proposed upgrade as “goldplated” and said it would support a more modest upgrade.

The Bulletin has this week put readers’ common questions and concerns to the various interested parties and today publishes the detailed facts as a “mythbuster” on the controversial redevelopment.