Di Stanley
Avgiation high-flyer Virgin Australia owes the Central Highlands Regional Council $371,417 in unpaid airport fees and charges with the likelihood of the council seeing much more than 15 cents in the dollar.
The outstanding debt was revealed by Finance General Manager Arun Dias who introduced sundry miscellaneous debtors to the department’s monthly report for the first time in May.
The total owed is $3.058 million, including $2.219m of current debts which are not yet overdue.
Of those, the bulk of the current debts are Department of Transport and Main Roads invoices for contract works and Emerald Airport invoices for head tax, security screening, landing fees, car parking and leases.
Virgin went into voluntary administration in April, 2020, as Covid lockdowns crippled the domestic airline industry.
Councillor Megan Daniels queried what steps had been taken to recover the money.
“Councillors would be aware that two years back, Virgin Australia went into voluntary administration and that is the result of the unpaid debt,” Mr Dias said.
“We are in talks with the company and the administrators, even thought the company is now back out of voluntary administration.
“There is a chance that we will get paid, but there is a high chance that we won’t get paid the full amount.
“We are currently working through the audit process and it is a tedious, long process.”
Mr Dias assured councillors his department was working with the “right channels” in its efforts to recover the six-figure sum.
“As of this date, we have been told that we might be recovering close to 15 cents in the dollar of everything outstanding,” he said.
“But we are working through and making sure that we increase that amount per dollar.”