Qantas ready to listen

NEGOTIATIONS for funding of a major upgrade of Townsville Airport have been given a kickstart after a lengthy stoush with Qantas.

Senior executives from Qantas will visit Townsville Airport in the wake of stalled negotiations over a proposed $ 3 passenger surcharge on airline passengers.

Qantas has repeatedly re- jected the proposed charge, intended to help fund Townsville Airport’s $ 80 million redevelopment, with negotiations now stalled for more than two years.

Townsville Airport chief operating officer Kevin Gill said there had been a recent meeting with Qantas to discuss the redevelopment, known as Project Alive.

“Qantas senior executives will visit the airport in the near future to review current congestion issues first- hand,” he said.

“We will anticipate this will occur within the next few weeks.”

Mr Gill said Townsville Airport was encouraged that Qantas executives were willing to visit to review the congestion issues at the terminal.

“Townsville Airport remains committed to our redevelopment plans,” he said.

A study has shown that Townsville Airport’s existing terminal is 40 per cent undersized for the number of passengers using the facility.

The redevelopment for Townsville includes upgrades to the terminal, taxiways, runway apron facilities and core infrastructure, with the airport planning to recoup $ 40 million of the costs through the passenger surcharge.

Virgin Australia signed an agreement over the fee crease in September 2015.

The planned meeting comes after Townsville Airport launched a public campaign in August to create a groundswell of support for the redevelopment.

But Qantas maintained it would support some improvements but not the full redevelopment plans.

A Qantas spokesman said there was ongoing dialogue in- with airports around Australia, including Townsville.

Mr Gill confirmed some minor works had already started at Townsville Airport.

“Early works have commenced on some parts of the redevelopment but the major works remain on hold,” he said.

“We do apologise for some minor inconvenience to customers during the early works phase.”