Shellharbour deputy mayor Kellie Marsh has said the community needs to keep an open mind on plans to upgrade the airport, as the frontrunner to provide low-cost services to the Illawarra drops out of the skies.
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Low-cost airline Bonza cancelled flights across Australia on Tuesday morning, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
There are reports that its planes had been repossessed by creditors.
Consultation closed last week on plans to upgrade Shellharbour Airport. When the masterplan was announced Shellharbour council staff indicated that discussions with one national budget airline were well advanced, but hinged upon the major works, costing up to $18 million, going ahead.
The Mercury understands that this airline is Bonza.
Last week, a Bonza spokesperson said the company was in constant discussions with multiple airports.
"One day we would love to see our purple planes in Shellharbour skies because low-cost air travel stimulates new leisure tourism, and our mission is to see further growth across regional Australia," the spokesperson said.
Last week, Bonza made headlines after reports that the airline's parent company, 777 Partners, had called in restructuring advisory KordaMentha. The firm has previously worked with Ansett and Virgin Australia.
The Bonza spokesperson refuted these claims.
"There have been media reports that 'Bonza's financiers' or 'an entity associated"'with Bonza has enlisted KordaMentha this is incorrect. 777 Partners own and finance Bonza and have not engaged KordaMentha," the spokesperson said.
Bonza has also reduced services on its existing routes.
Launched in 2022, Bonza has focused on servicing routes not otherwise operated by major commercial airlines, and flies to 21 destinations across five states and territories on 36 routes.
The financial troubles of the latest entrant to try and crack Australia's notoriously challenging aviation market raises questions about whether Shellharbour will be able to attract a low-cost national airline if it embarked on major upgrades to the runway and terminal.
Shellharbour has been burnt before, when previous operator JetGo collapsed in 2018. FlyCorporate, now known as Link Airways, took up the mantle of providing services to Shellharbour, and continues to fly to Melbourne and Brisbane.
A $20 million upgrade to the terminal and business park has yet to see a significant increase in regular passenger services to Shellharbour airport, and when councillors discussed the new masterplan in February, noted there needed to be commercial interest and community demand to make any future investment worthwhile.
"Some people say 'build it and they will come' but we need to make sure we would do that in a responsible way," Cr Rob Petreski said.
"We need to make sure there is significant commercial interest in that if we do build it, it will be utilised and we can fulfil its potential."
Speaking to the Mercury on Wednesday, April 24, deputy mayor Kellie Marsh said the community and council needed to entertain the possibility of additional services.
"We need to remain open minded and open to any operators that could potentially provide a stable service and more locations flying out of Shellharbour Airport," she said.
Ms Marsh said from the community feedback sessions she had attended, there was demand for the third option put forward by the masterplan, but said she would wait and see what the entirety of the feedback recommended.
Clarification - This article has been updated to clarify that Bonza refutes reports that KordaMentha is advising Bonza's financiers or parent company.
