MOREE Plans Shire Council (MPSC) is calling for community feedback on a potential deregulation of the Moree-Sydney air service route.
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A short survey has been created to gauge opinions after Transport for NSW made the suggestion to MPSC.
Mayor Katrina Humphries urged locals to learn more about deregulation and share, through the survey, their own opinion.
“We currently have a regulated air service route which QantasLink has been given a licence to operate.”
QantasLink, as the licence holder, is the only service able to operate Moree-Sydney but if the route was to deregulate, any air service would be able to provide flights.
“There is no guarantees with any commercial business, but when a service is regulated there is a fair bit of security involved.
“If deregulated other air services can fly in under no obligation to maintain the service,” she said.
More choice can also mean competition with airfares, possibly driving down prices.
“We have about 30,000 passengers going out through Moree airport per year which makes it a viable air service route,” Cr Humphries said.
The NSW Government, through Transport for NSW, deregulated Narrabri in 2015. Since then, they’ve struggled to secure any air service to provide the community with consistent flights.
Speaking as a resident of Moree, and not the mayor, Mrs Humphries said she liked security and was “gravely” concerned about time slots if the service was deregulated.
“Time slots to Mascot are the property of the current air service provider QantasLink.
“If you don’t have the time slots, you get shoved in at different times and our current slots work so very, very well with the community because people can get down and back from Sydney in one day,” she said.
Moree councillors will vote on the proposal at a council meeting on Thursday and hope to have as many local opinions from the survey to share at the meeting.
“I did the survey straight away, it was easy and if I can do it 95 per cent of people can too.”
Cr Humphries noted the community was still hurting from the “Brindabella debacle”.
Transport for NSW awarded Brindabella the regulated Moree-Sydney licence over QantasLink in 2013-14.
Months later, Brindabella collapsed.
After a community-led campaign, QantasLink took back over the licence.
Fill out the survey here or call 6757 3222 for a hard copy.