THE District Council of Lower Eyre Peninsula will put forward a proposal for Virgin Blue to run an airline service between Adelaide and Port Lincoln.
The council at its meeting on Friday, February 16 decided to advise Virgin of its airport facilities and fees after receiving a request from Virgin Blue for interest in a Port Lincoln Airport service.
And a second airline Air South Charters, which has just started a flight service between Kingscote and Adelaide, is also looking at the possibility of a service to Port Lincoln.
Virgin Blue spokesperson Amanda Bolger said the airline had purchased 14 new Embraer aircraft that were small enough to fly to smaller airports.
"Port Lincoln is a destination of interest," Ms Bolger said.
However she said there are no immediate plans to begin flights to and from Port Lincoln.
Ms Bolger said expressions of interest for the Virgin Blue flights had been sought from airports, and based on certain criteria the airports would be selected in the coming months.
The District Council of Lower Eyre Peninsula proposal includes that the air service be operated on the present airport charging regime with an invitation to enter into further negotiations if Virgin Blue wished to pursue the proposal.
Air South Charters approached the council in November last year, and the company advised its interest in an Adelaide to Port Lincoln service.
Air South Charter managing director Michael Kohn said further investigations into the feasibility of operating a service would be looked at this month but community support and demand would be the driving factor.
"There needs to be community demand, what is the feeling out there?" he said.
He welcomed any feedback from the community.
The flights to and from Kingscote, where the only other airline is Rex, started this month and have so far been successful.
"It would be good to know that local business, same as Kingscote did, would support our airline," Mr Kohn said.
DCLEP Mayor Max Hill said another air service for Port Lincoln was a question of economic viability.
He said the new ferry had brought a new option for people travelling to or from Port Lincoln.
The Virgin Embraer jet aircraft can seat 78 in the E170 and 106 in the E190.
The date of delivery for the first aircraft is during the fourth quarter of this year.