New Gympie council aerodrome landing fees will cost flight trainer $65k

Controversial new council fees at the Gympie aerodrome at Kybong continue to cause severe turbulence, with one flight school owner saying he will have no choice but to shut up shop.

Recreational Flying Company owner and instrutor Paul mcKeown has called on Gympie council to repeal controversial new landing fees he says will cost him in excess of $65,000 and force him to shut up shop.

Controversial new landing fees at the Kybong Aerodrome are continuing to cause severe turbulence with one flight school owner calling for their repeal saying he will be forced to shut up shop if they stay.

Recreational Flying Company owner Paul McKeown said the “outrageous” new $13 per tonne landing fees introduced by Gympie Regional Council this year will be “terminal” for his business, forcing him to find an extra $65,000 each year to stay afloat.

He said a single training flight would attract up to $26 in charges under the new system, which starts in less than a month.

“We’ve got thousands and thousands of landings each year, “ Mr McKeown said.

An average training circuit would attract a fee of up to $26, he said.

His own chartered Cessna, which weighs four tonnes, would cost $52 each landing.

The new fees will start on August 1.

Raising his prices to cover these new fees would severely damage his ability to run a financially competitive business.

“We charge the minimum we can,” he said.

“There’s really no alternative,” Mr McKeown said.

“If I put the price up there’s no incentive to bring (their business) up to Gympie.

“We’ve got no capacity to cover it.”

The fee introduction was defended by the council last week; a spokesman said the new system was consistent with those run in other council areas and would lessen the burden to ratepayers, who were subsiding the aerodrome’s upkeep.

Gympie council has defended the fee’s introduction as necessary to remove the burden from the general ratepayer and shift it to those who actually use the airport.

Councillor Dan Stewart said the aerodrome cost the council a “significant’ amount to run.

Mr McKeown challenged this, saying the council “mows the grass occasionally, although not very often and not very well”.

“But that’s about all you’ve got to spend our significant lease fees, which we already pay, on.”

He also questioned where the council was spending money at the aerodrome, as “unlike progressive local aerodromes, we still lack basic infrastructure like lighting, taxiways or an instrument approach … because, of course, (the council’s) spent nothing on that.”

Council communications manager Sharna Rowley said at least $360,000 was spent by the council on the aerodrome in the past three financial years, including more than $247,000 in 2018-19.

Mr McKeown says airports that have brought these fees in have become ‘ghost towns’.

These figures did not include depreciation, she said.

“The 2020-21 year did not see any capital budget spent at the aerodrome as a review of the facility was needed to better understand the work required into the future,” Mrs Rowley said.

“The user pay system does not impact the not-for-profit groups, for example the Aero Club or the emergency group.

“ The user pay system is for commercial business, as it is not fair and equitable for rate payers to fund a facility for commercial gain for private businesses.”

Mr McKeown said fees were par for the course at some other aerodromes but this did not make them a good idea.

Those that do, like Maryborough, “become ghost towns”.

“The best and most vibrants aerodromes have no landing charges,” Mr McKeown said.