Minister hears city’s aviation academy bid

Erin Pearson
TULLAMARINE and Essendon have emerged as tough competition threatening Avalon Airport’s bid for an $80 million aviation academy, according to Geelong figures lobbying for the facility.
But they have told Skills and Workforce Participation Minister Bronwyn Pike that the academy was vital to ensuring a “viable” second airport for Victoria at Avalon.
Ed Coppe, the chairman of regional councils alliance group G21, Avalon Airport’s Justin Giddings, Geelong Mayor John Mitchell The Gordon TAFE boss Grant Sutherland met Ms Pike to plead Avalon’s case in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Mr Coppe said Ms Pike “listened intently” to the delegation.
Mr Coppe said Tullamarine and Essendon airports had also submitted proposals for the facility.
He described them as “making tough competition”.
“It took a lot of effort to persuade the minister (to listen to Geelong’s pitch) because the easy decision is to base the facility at Tullamarine,” he said.
“But the strategic decision is to base it at Avalon because Tullamarine will get busier and training activities will become more difficult to execute.
“We talked about a range of issues but made the important point that Victoria would benefit from a second viable airport rather than just allowing Tullamarine to have a monopoly of services.”
Mr Coppe said the meeting was a “really important” opportunity to demonstrate how keen Geelong was to secure the academy.
“From Geelong’s point of view, it would be a fantastic opportunity to provide the community with more economic activity.”
State Government began considering potential for establishing the state’s first aviation training facility in December after a meeting with industry representatives.
Mr Coppe said the delegation also handed Ms Pike a copy of a G21 petition with more than 2400 signatures supporting the academy bid.
Mr Giddings said Ms Pike raised minor “concerns” about the bid but the meeting “felt positive”.
“We pretty much did the best we could do and put forward a pretty powerful contingent,” he said.
The academy would be Victoria’s centre of excellence in training aviation industry employees such as aircraft engineers, mechanics, baggage handlers, airport operators, flight attendants, tarmac staff and, potentially, pilots.