Katherine Aviation submitted a plan to construct a 1200-square metre hangar in 2011 to provide additional space to accommodate the booming maintenance arm of its operation.

However, the plan has never been actioned and director Ben Bowden slammed Katherine Town Council – which leases the airport from the Department of Defence – and its former chief executive officer, David Laugher, for failing to advocate on behalf of the project.

“We first submitted the proposal together with building plans to Katherine Town Council in 2011 [and] it took the then-CEO David Laugher three years to admit they had no record of our initial submission or any ongoing correspondence in relation to the matter,” Mr Bowden said.

He added that he believed “significant progress” had been made in recent months as the council continued lease negotiations for the facility, but acknowledged the delay had been costly.

“The lengthy delay in progressing our proposal has been … enormously frustrating, both economically and operationally,” he said.

“We anticipate that this investment will improve our bottom line by 20 per cent within the first three years.”

Mr Bowden also criticised the lack of investment in airport infrastructure and said he believed the state of the facility contradicted the council’s support of the plan to make Katherine a crucial part of Australia’s northern development push.

“Katherine Airport has potential for growth beyond our aspirations,” he said.

The council’s new CEO, Robert Jennings, said he accepted the airport’s condition was not a good look for those arriving from the air, but that an outcome on the hangar was getting closer.

“It looks like we might have a solution,” he said.

“We spoke to Defence about it on Wednesday last week and they said there might be a way to go ahead and proceed.”