Cloncurry Shire councillors voted at the full council meeting on Tuesday to waive the landing fee of $510 a year for small aircraft weighing less than two tonnes.

These aircraft will be billed landing fees by Avdata for every time they land, which is $25. 

Councillor Keith Douglas argued for reducing the levies for lighter planes. 

He said landing fees and tie down fees would cost about $1000 in total, which could be a lot of money for owners of hobby planes who did not use them often. 

“I don’t want to give anyone a free lunch, I just want to be fair,” Cr Douglas said. 

He said reducing the levies would encourage all planes in Cloncurry to be kept at the airport. 

There was at least one local who kept a plane on their own property, and used a road to take-off.

Both levies would amount to about $20 a week for plane owners. 

But Cr Douglas said that would be a lot of money for people who only used their planes several times a year. 

Chief executive David Neeves said plane owners could pay individual landing fees for aircrafts.

Plane users would cover the cost of fees if they use their plane 20 hours a year, which would be less than once a fortnight. 

Acting mayor Bob Macdonald said the airport provided security and the assurance the plane would not be damaged by others.

But an ultralight plane did do less wear and tear to an airstrip when landing because of its weight, Cr Macdonald said. 

Councillors Colin Ferguson and Keith Douglas moved the motion to delegate the arrangement of billing of the airport’s fees and charges for this financial year to the chief executive. 

Councillors heard passenger numbers that arrived at the Cloncurry Regional Airport increased from 66,732 in the 2012-13 financial year, to 69,488 in the 2013-14 financial year.