City reveals ‘positive conversations’ with airlines as councillor calls for return of Eastern States route

“Positive conversations” with airlines about reinstating a direct flight from Kalgoorlie-Boulder to the Eastern States have occurred, mayor Glenn Wilson says. His comments follow Cr Nardia Turner’s questions at Monday’s council meeting which asked whether the city had been actively engaging with airlines to try and reinstate the route, which has not returned since the COVID-19 lockdown. Cr Turner also asked a similar question regarding reinstating the Saturday evening or Sunday morning flights between Perth and Kalgoorlie-Boulder. During the meeting, city chief executive Andrew Brien said a brief answer was “yes” but further information on the lobbying conducted by the city would be provided in the minutes of the next council meeting. Speaking to the Kalgoorlie Miner on Tuesday, Mr Wilson said there had been “several positive conversations” around trying to re-engage an Eastern States link. “We are being dictated to by the airlines. However, we’re in positive discussions to try and move forward on those and hopefully we can get some resolutions soon,” he said. “There’s several factors that have changed in the last four years from an airline’s point of view.” He said aircraft availability and changes to maintenance schedules were among the changes which made reinstating the route more difficult. Cr Turner said she would bring a motion to the council regarding the flights, and she had also been approached by a member of the community who wished to push a petition to Parliament regarding the Eastern States flight. “The buzzword at the moment is livability and making our city, and region, a better place for people to live and stay,” she said. “This Eastern States route is a really important thing. People think that it’s just for perhaps business and industry to get workers in and out, or it’s for tourism, but it’s so much more than that. “For people who move here or have family members who move away from here, being able to easily connect with loved ones is really important, and we need to make that as easy as possible so they are more likely to stay here in our region.”