Tamworth Regional Council says the council and the State Government have to ramp up lobbying and commitment to try to secure flying training contracts for Tamworth in the face of renewed competition from Victorian sites.
General manager Glenn Inglis says a new contract tender up for decision by the Federal Government is vitally important to the city and its economic future.
Mr Inglis says heavy competition from competitors to BAE and its Tamworth base puts in jeopardy a $12 million a year operation for the city.
A six year contract extension to provide basic flying training for the federal Government is out to tender – with Tamworth and three other private companies looking to have sites around Sale win the contract.
Mr Inglis said the existing BAE contract in Tamworth runs out in 2011 and TRC says the future extension is vital to Tamworth’s aviation growth.
"The loss of BAE would be significant to this city. The BAE contract employs something like 150 staff directly in Tamworth with defence personnel and airforce staff.
Mr Inglis says Tamworth is a far superior training school location to any of the other contenders for a number of reasons – but he says the Victorian government is committing huge funds to putting in infrastructure to counter the Tamworth bid.
“The Vics have a recording of beating NSW on facilitating economic initiatives and it’s time for NSW to kickstart the journey to reclaim the mantle of the Premier State.”
TRC says it will continue talks with the NSW Government to get it to commit more funds and activity to match the Victorian challenges.
“Tamworth is a superior location over East and West Sale at many levels,” Mr Inglis said.
“Tamworth already has student accommodation, sophisticated training facilities, ramp space, aircraft carports, a dedicated runway, support fields and ample training airspace.
“East and West Sale has grossly inferior pilot training weather conditions, whereas Tamworth is excellent and is rarely closed due to adverse conditions. Tamworth ranks much higher than East and West Sale on preferred flying conditions like clear days, cloudless days and wind speeds. These conditions are critical to optimise training schedules and not present safety restrictions to basic training instruction.
“It is our understanding that the Victorian Government has committed substantial capital funds to bring West Sale up to the required standard to match Tamworth's infrastructure.
“It is also our understanding that the Sale proposal involves utilising a number of facilities and services from the RAAF owned East Sale Base. The private tender bids for the Sale option will need to ensure that all the requirements of the Australian Governments competitive neutrality policies are fully met. It is very important that the Tamworth bid is not commercially disadvantaged due to some competitive advantage resulting from public sector ownership.
Council has had extensive consultation with the NSW State Government and BAE regards the interim basic flying training tender. Discussions are continuing and assistance at a number of levels is being provided."