“Down-to-earth airport realities.” Central Coast Express Advocate, 16 February 1995.
This article is particularly significant when read alongside contemporary reporting about the ambitious redevelopment proposals for Warnervale Airport. Mayor Tony Sheridan directly challenges two of the most striking claims being circulated at the time: that Boeing 737-sized aircraft would operate from Warnervale and that the airport could become the “air freight capital of the nation.”
Sheridan nevertheless strongly supports development of the airport. He describes the proposal as having “tremendous potential” and anticipates benefits from improved commercial air services, employment creation and a reduction in the number of Central Coast residents commuting to Sydney for work. His objection is therefore not to airport development itself, but to what he regarded as unrealistic representations of its proposed scale.
The article is especially valuable in conjunction with the 8 February 1995 article “Sky’s the limit at Warnervale”, published only eight days earlier. That article reported developer Les Graham saying the proposed $20 million airport redevelopment would include an 1800-metre runway capable of taking “737-size aircraft” and quoted his ambition for Warnervale to become the “freight capital of Australia.” Sheridan explicitly rejects both propositions here.
Together, the articles provide an unusually clear contemporary record of the differing expectations surrounding Warnervale Airport in early 1995: substantial development and commercial aviation were being seriously contemplated, while Council leadership was simultaneously attempting to define practical environmental, geographical and operational limits on that development.
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