The arrival of the Qantas 747-400 at Illawarra Regional Airport has provided a boost for the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society with the number of people through the doors increasing fourfold since March.
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The figure is contained in a report on the costs to Shellharbour City Council of landing the City of Canberra aircraft to be presented on Tuesday night.
The report says 24,000 people are now expected to visit HARS annually and the economic spin-off as a results of the Qantas gift is ‘‘positive for regional businesses’’ with the benefits to flow for many years to come.
The report says procedures put in place by the council, Qantas and HARS meant there was ‘‘negligible damage’’ caused by landing the 192-tonne aircraft on a runway that usually allows for aircraft up to 25 tonnes.
There was some minor damage on the apron in the form of divots, depression and cracks where the aircraft was parked for six weeks.
‘‘Council is working with CASA and our pavement engineer to determine what, if any, repairs are required ... this will be included within council’s normal maintenance program,’’ the council’s group manager of city services Rosemary Crowhurst said.
However the report said that during the excavation work for the slab to hold the aircraft, HARS volunteers cut electrical cables that serviced the airport lighting.
Due to the essential nature of these lights and the urgency of construction of the slab works ‘‘council undertook the repairs as soon as the incident was identified, with the costs for the works of $1634 to be recovered from HARS’’.
The report said the total cost of the landing to the council was $27,156 with the council to invoice HARS $19,174 for airport safety and security ($11,765), the pavement audit ($5775) and the repair to electrical cables.
Discussions with HARS representatives on the final costs and invoice are proposed.