A weekly re-cap of the events that have made news in Cairns over the past week.

Tuesday May 7, 2002 64th Edition

Calls for a second runway have been met with mixed reactions in Cairns. As momentum builds and Cairns looks at becoming a major international gateway, there are two definite sides starting to form. Australian Airlines have started to take bookings, which takes this new airline from the drawing board into the sky, a long needed boost for the City of Cairns.

Call for second runway at Cairns Airport
With last week's announcement by Federal Minister for Tourism, Mr Hockey, to make Cairns the second major airport in Australia, Cairns Mayor Kevin Byrne has called for the resurrection of the plan to build a second runway for Cities international airport. Local residents, particularly those living in the current flight path, have met the Mayor's statement with mixed reactions.

The two sides to the argument are those people looking for the Cairns economy to grow dramatically as a result of the increased air traffic and those residents concerned about the impacts of increased flights on their current lifestyle.

May Day Rally goes off without a hitch
The Cairns May Day rally has gone off without a hitch this year, unlike similar rallies around Australia that saw numerous violent clashes with police. In Cairns 200 Union members and community support groups marched along the Esplanade to celebrate May Day, whilst the rest of the city celebrated the public holiday.

Cairns promoted as potential biotech capital
Cairns is being promoted to the world as the perfect base for biotech companies to establish operations, mainly due to the cities close proximity to the drugs that may be found in the native flora and fauna. State Innovation Minister, Paul Lucas, toured the region last week talking to biotech companies already established in the region. Mr Lucas will be attending the world's largest biotechnology conference, BIO 2002 in Toronto, Canada next month, in an attempt to attract more firms to the Far North.

Female pilots head to Cairns
The Australian Women Pilots Association is holding its annual conference in Cairns this week with over 100 delegates attending from around Australia. A special guest speaker at the Gala Dinner will be Nancy-Bird Walton, who became the first female commercial pilot in the British Empire.

Organic farm opens tourist centre
Mungalli Creek Dairy has become firmly established as an innovative business in North Queensland. The family owned farm produces organic and biodynamic dairy products including cheese, yoghurt, milk, cream and butter. Last week the Federal Member for Kennedy, Bob Katter, officially opened a Cheese Tasting facility. This is the first facility of its kind on the Atherton Tableland and it is expected to attract up to 200,000 tourists annually.

$10 million worth of orders for flying ships
Cairns based company, Flightship, has received its first orders for six $1.5 million flying ships bound for the Maldive Islands. The innovative craft fly at about 40 knots, 2 metres above the surface of the ocean. Flightship has been trialing the craft in the waters off Cairns and despite a shaky start the future of the company is looking very positive with more orders expected in the coming months.

Australian Airlines to start taking bookings this week
As momentum for Australian Airlines continues to grow, the company announced that they would be taking booking as of this week. Telephone bookings and travel agents bookings will be available as of today (Tuesday 7th of May 2002). A major marketing campaign is expected to commence immediately, particularly in the destinations that Australian Airlines is intending to fly.