The State Government has responded to all 48 findings and 13 recommendations from the Final Report of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Regional Airfares, released on November 30, 2017.
Related: Qantas announcement a positive step forward for regional WA
The implementation of the supported recommendations arising from the inquiry will be carried out via a review of the State Aviation Strategy, which will be overseen by a cross-department working group chaired by the Department of Transport.
The review of the State Aviation Strategy will largely focus on unregulated air routes in Western Australia, with community engagement central to the work to be conducted.
In the next 12 months, the Government will engage with airlines, local governments, the mining industry, corporations and communities. The collection of data and feedback is essential to the success of the State Aviation Strategy review and will be used to provide a policy framework going forward.
Collaboration and innovation between all relevant stakeholders will be critical to finding new and better ways to improving air services to regional WA in the future.
Of the 13 recommendations outlined in the report, 12 are either fully supported or supported in principle. The recommendation relating to government approvals for new mining airstrips operating close to existing Regular Public Transport airports will be investigated further.
The interdepartmental working group will report regularly to the Government on the progress of the review. For updates on the review of the State Aviation Strategy, visit https://www.transport.wa.gov.au/airservicesWA
Image: A Skywest Airlines, VH-FNI, Fokker 50 takes off from Geraldton Airport. Credit: YSSYguy at English Wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons