The Friends of Tenterfield Aerodrome had its expression of interest accepted by council on June 30 and will lease the facility

The Friends of Tenterfield Aerodrome had its expression of interest accepted by council on June 30.

Council put the airstrip up for tender in October as it looked to potentially sell the asset to a suitable party.

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Part of the requirement for a successful tender was the aerodrome needed an experienced aviation group with enough funds to maintain the facility.

The Friends of Tenterfield Aerodrome president Rob Evans said the next step is to negotiate a long-term lease with council.

"It will be a 30-year lease, so it will give people some confidence to invest in the facility," Mr Evans said.

"In the short term we have to keep the facility as good as it is now with the resources we have.

"We'll really be looking for all the assistance we can get from people in the community in terms of volunteering some time and equipment to get us started.

"Long term we'll obviously be looking at applying for grants from federal and state government to enable us to improve the aerodrome."

Previous tenders were knocked back from other groups after they had not supplied sufficient information to council.

Mr Evans and his group were in the box seat from there with its members having aviation experience.

He has been part of Angel Flight as a pilot since 2003.

It helps with specialist medical treatment for people in rural areas.

"We would like people to build hangars there or maybe start a flying school or a maintenance business," Mr Evans said.

"We have a master plan to make it more suitable for medical and rescue use.

"At the moment it doesn't have a hard stand for helicopters to land on.

"Janelle Saffin has promised $50,000 towards a water tank and pump to go to the airport.

"Hopefully that comes through soon and we can get that set up before the fire season starts."

Tenterfield mayor Bronwyn Petrie said council always intended for it to remain an airstrip when it opened for tender in October.

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