Cr O’Connor made the comparison at the Regional Aviation Standing Committee Hearing in Tamworth.

Armidale Dumaresq Council was represented by airport manager David Steller and Cr O’Connor.

Cr O’Connor said while the reduction in fares since Rex came to Armidale was welcome, it was “nail biting” to see if the city would be able to keep both.

The two also fielded a number of questions on the tax applied to each passenger at the airport.

Council currently charges airlines $14.70 per passenger but this is knocked down to $9.70 on cheaper tickets and when 70,000 people use the airport in a year.

Mr Steller said the airport tended to run surpluses of $250,000 to $300,000, which contribute to a savings fund of about $2.5 million. 

But Mr Steller said after the inquiry that while this money was marked for airport upgrades it would not be enough to undertake the improvements council wants to implement in the next 20 years.

Guyra based duty MLC and committee member Scot MacDonald said Council should take lessons from other cities, like Dubbo, which have a 25 year master plan for their airport which is revises every five years.

While Council has been pressured by both Rex and Qantas in the past to lower or drop its passenger tax Mr MacDonald said this wouldn’t be a good idea.

“[Council shouldn’t’] undersell itself by discounting [its] passenger fee,” he said.

“It’s more important to build facilities people demand.”

In the future those facilities could include greater security at the airport to accommodate the larger Q400 planes.