Second airport for ACT?

After years of requests from some GA stakeholders, the ACT Government has announced it will explore the possibility of building a second ACT airport.

The Canberra Times reports that the ACT Government has earmarked $50,000 in the forthcoming budget for a feasibility study into the viability of building an airport at Williamsdale, on the ACT-NSW border, to cope with growing demand. Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said the proposed airport would be suitable for light aircraft and could house flying schools.

Ironically, the move comes not long after the flight training arm of Canberra-based Brindabella Airlines closed their doors due to increasing congestion at Canberra Airport and the lack of a suitable alternative airfield nearby. Brindabella was the sole remaining flying school in Canberra.

Canberra Region Aviators Association vice-president Michael Monck told The Canberra Times demand for recreational flight facilities in the ACT is outstripping supply.

"We've got somewhere in the order of 850 to 900 pilots, or people who hold some sort of aviation licence issued by Civil Aviation Safety Authority or Recreational Aviation Australia, and those guys are all sort of flying in and around Canberra," he said. "I very strongly feel that we haven't even scratched the surface yet."

However the move has frustratingly come too late for Brindabella CEO Jeff Boyd. Williamsdale was originally identified in 2004 as a fitting location for a General Aviation airfield, and Boyd’s efforts since then to sway the ACT Government had come to naught.

"We've been pushing for a long time with people from Canberra to have another airport - basically we were told it was never going to happen," Boyd told the ABC. "On the basis of two years of correspondence and getting nowhere with the ACT Government on this other airport I made my decision to close the flying school. It’s the most frustrating thing I've ever seen."