Airport runway extension on Warrnambool's agenda

The city council is working towards making a bid for government funding to upgrade the runway, the airport advisory committee chair Stephen Lucas said.

Cr Max Taylor said it would be great for the Warrnambool Airport to have its main runway lengthened and hopefully it would happen in the near future.

"Maybe one day down the track we can have regular flights to Sydney and Adelaide and it will be great for the city of Warrnambool," he said.

A runway upgrade could cost as much as $10 million.

Cr Taylor pointed to the success of a runway extension at Bendigo to cater for larger planes.

"They now have a direct flight to Sydney on a regular basis, so I can visualise with the lengthening of Warrnambool's main airport strip that we'll be able to have larger planes come in and land and it will certainly increase our tourism," he said.

Mr Lucas said the council was not yet in a position to apply for funding to strengthen and lengthen the runway. "When all the preparatory work has been done then I'm sure council will have a crack at the federal government for that."

The cross runway at the airport is also undergoing an upgrade after it secured a cash injection in July of $267,000 from the federal government for the works.

Regular passenger flights between Melbourne and Warrnambool are also still in the works, but there is no firm commitment.

"There are always enquiries about that from people who are looking to run a commuter service to Melbourne," Mr Lucas said.

Warrnambool lost its daily flights to Melbourne when Sharp Aviation pulled out in 2019, and last year there was plans by another operator to take over the route but it fell over in the wake of COVID lockdowns.

Mr Lucas said there was also a new operator considering using the airport for a flying school and new airport hangars will soon be built at the airport.

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