Claims made by South Australian Senator Rex Patrick alleging Grant District Council is pursuing Qantas services to Mount Gambier are “untrue”, council chief executive David Singe has said.
In a letter to Barker MP Tony Pasin forwarded onto Mr Patrick, Mr Singe rejected claims made by the Senator that proposed Federal Government changes to security screening would impact the Mount Gambier Airport.
Earlier this year, Mr Patrick expressed concerns with flagged changes that would require flights carrying 40 passengers or more to have compulsory passenger screenings.
However, Mr Singe said the Senator spoke to the airport manager who advised him the REX Saab 340 has 34 available seats and therefore does not require security screenings.
According to Mr Singe, the Senator was also advised Qantas was unable to operate from Mount Gambier as it did not have screening in place, “nor do we have a sufficiently large market for two operators”.
Mr Singe highlighted the strong business relationship between council and Rex Airlines since the “increasingly successful community airfares”.
