That’s the view of Neil Eigland from the Inverell Air Service Working Group, who pointed to major construction projects, including Sapphire Wind Farm and the looming Inverell District Hospital redevelopment as works that would need

Located east of Inverell, the Sapphire Wind Farms has already started construction with 75 turbines to be erected.

It is being developed by CWP Renewables, and the entire construction period is expected to last between 18 months and two years.

“A lot of their senior management staff travel up from Sydney,” Mr Eigland said. “And all the contractors who work on the site, if they’re not local then they usually have offices somewhere else and it’s convenient for their staff if they had a flight (service).”

The $30 million redevelopment of the Inverell Hospital could begin as early as later this year.

Mr Eigland also said the tough rental market meant there would be a demand for a flight service during these construction projects.

“I don’t know if people realise, there is a hell of a lot of money coming into the area. I know they know the wind farms are going up,” Mr Eigland said.

The Inverell Air Service Working Group, which was formed last year, has been pushing for flights to return to town and investigating how they can make it happen.

The group has been in contact with several airlines, including Qantas, Virgin Australia and Regional Express Airlines (Rex) as well as smaller operators to gauge interest.

If they are successful, it would be the first time since 2009 that a commercial flight service has flown to Inverell.

The last service, Aeropelican, stopped its Inverell service in March that year after operating a flight service for two years.

After various attempts to attract customers, and financial support from Inverell Shire Council, the airline’s board decided to stop flights, claiming the service was not viable.