Cairns’ idle aircraft eyed for fifo miners

USING aircraft lying dormant throughout the night at Cairns airport is one of the ideas the business community will pitch to woo more fly-in, fly-out (fifo) mining operations to the Far North in Townsville and Papua New Guinea.
The Cairns Post newspaper yesterday reported the Cairns chamber of commerce, Advance Cairns, Invest Queensland and a consultant specialising in PNG mining prospects are heading to Perth in two weeks to highlight the credentials of the region as a fifo base.
Chamber executive officer Sandy Whyte said the delegation would meet six or seven companies as well as holding a couple of group sessions on Nov 8-9.
He said there were a lot more opportunities than people realised and Cairns was shaping up well as an fifo  base for Perth-based mining companies.
“Perth has very few slots left at the airport for flights north, particularly Karratha,” Whyte said.
“Karratha is currently serviced from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne but Cairns is closer than all three,” he said.
“There are big opportunities because there are aircraft sitting overnight in Cairns,” Whyte said.