The arrival of the Qantas 747-400 at Illawarra Regional Airport has sparked a renewed interest in the future of the Shellharbour City Council-owned facility.
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The permanent presence of VH-OJA at the airport may be a sign the airport's future could lie in supporting tourism related activities, rather than a long-held ambition of Shellharbour Council to see the return of commercial passenger flights.
In 2005, when QantasLink began operating a passenger service between the airport and Melbourne, Shellharbour Council management predicted the airport would cater for 60,000 passengers annually by 2010.
However in 2008 Qantas killed off its service, blaming "rising fuel costs".
Two years later the council released an airport capability study, centred on the needs of commercial airlines, which was to guide a draft master plan for the development of the airport over the next 15 to 20 years.
The draft master plan was prepared but never released, although it was revealed the estimated cost of the master plan was in excess of $125 million across its various projects and stages.
Council general manager Michael Willis said a revised draft master plan had now been prepared that was "completely different" to the original document.
Mr Willis said councillors would be briefed on the new, "modest" draft master plan later this month before its expected release for public comment in April or May.
Mr Willis said the original draft was based on assumptions surrounding growth in passenger flights "which haven't eventuated and I don't think ever will".
"The new draft is a document focused around what we know now," Mr Willis said.
The general manager said it was fair to say the way the public received the delivery of the 747-400 to HARS took people by surprise.
"The 747 provides a catalyst to rethink the whole RPT [regular public transport aircraft] thing ... we need to do our homework in regards to the tourism side and the 747 is obviously now a part of that."