The airport has become the base for the Wimmera and Grampians regions for the approaching fire season, with two fixed wing fire bombing aircraft located on site. The aircraft will be ready for automatic dispatch to support ground crews, in the event of of a fire outbreak.

Council discussed the economic benefits the airport brings to Stawell and the Northern Grampians Shire at its latest meeting.

A report revealed that the airports at both Stawell and St Arnaud provide a myriad of economic development opportunities for the shire.

It stated that regional airports are playing an increasing role in economic growth and provide their catchment areas with access to major cities and regional centres. This facilitates outbound and inbound tourism, personal and business travel, personal and business freight and, importantly, access to community services that may not be available in regional areas, such as education and health services.

Cr Wayne Rice said Stawell Airport in particular had come a long way over the years, in relation to the business opportunities that exist.

He said the opportunities were many and varied, including aircraft training services, recreational flying, emergency services, tourism and air freight services.

"The Stawell Airport really has gone from an airport where planes simply take off from and land, to a business centre that is thriving," Cr Rice said.

Cr Rice said the completion of stage three of a major upgrade at the airport had created further opportunities for business expansion.

He said the upgrades would allow council to facilitate and consider additional development opportunities at the site and will provide better facilities for emergency services such as air ambulance and CFA aircraft, fly-in/fly-out users and other visiting planes.

While it was noted that operators at the Stawell Airport had invested millions of dollars in aircraft and infrastructure to provide services to the region, a planning application had also recently been approved to enable construction of a new aircraft hangar.

This follows the successful appointment of the aerial firefighting contract to AGA Services for the next five years.

"With AGA Services being successful in securing that contract, it has enabled them to employ eight additional staff and increase their fleet by six planes," Cr Rice said.

"AGA is only one business that really has made a success of their business being located at the Stawell Airport.

"From the bomber base being established there, to the continual upgrades of the runways and entrance roads, the Stawell Airport really has come along in leaps and bounds."

Cr Kevin Erwin said the upgrade to the Stawell Airport had been a significant boost to the region and came out of necessity following the bushfires of 2005-06.

"All this really does put the Stawell Airport at the forefront of emergency services, particularly firefighting in this part of the state" Cr Erwin said.

"We can clearly see the significant benefits economically when developments like this take off. It has developed a lot quicker than I ever thought it would I must admit, but it has become a real asset for Stawell and the region."