Airport and airlines vital for Bass Strait island now and after virus

The lifeline of a small Tasmanian island – its airport – will stay open because airlines are vital to its survival.

YOU might think King Island would be perfectly positioned to close itself off from the world as the coronavirus crisis intensifies but it is that isolated position which makes maintaining air services so vital.

King Island Mayor Julie Arnold said the airport it owns would stay open unless there was a Government directive otherwise.

Extra cleaning measures have been introduced and the council is waiting on the Tasmanian Government’s new arrival cards for international travellers and residents coming home from overseas.

“We need to get residents off the island for medical appointments and other things and we need to get supplies in,” Cr Arnold said.

“We are simply not in a situation to close ourselves off. Our milk, for example, comes in by air. We also need our airlines to survive this and are in close contact with them so we are not left stranded when the crisis is over.”

King Island Airport will remain open.

One of those airlines, Regional Express (Rex), on Monday wrote to the Federal Government asking for help to keep it and other regional carriers in the air.

Rex wants the Government to waive all fees including en route, terminal navigation, rescue and fire fighting and meteorological charges.

The airline has also asked the Government to provide a sovereign guarantee for any new line of credit or loan taken out to help carriers stay in the air through to the end of the pandemic

Cr Arnold said while no coronavirus cases had been diagnosed on King Island it was unlikely to be immune from the unfolding crisis.

“We have two full-time doctors on the island and a fully staffed hospital and biosecurity,” she said.