Over a dozen written objections were submitted against the sale, first floated in November.

George Town Mayor Bridget Archer told The Examiner a motion was passed at Tuesday’s meeting to defer the decision until after a workshop could be arranged with the George Town Airport Association – from which most of the objections came.

“It was deemed appropriate to bring them in for extra consultation,” Ms Archer said.

Pending the outcome of the workshop – slated for either February or March – a further report could then come back to council.

George Town Airport Association manager and president Eugene Reid said the group was “very pleased” with the outcome.

“It was the ideal outcome. You could see they’d done some research into the airport and they were happy to talk to us.”

Community concerns were sparked when news of the sale broke, with fears the airport could be privatised and become unaffordable.

Concerns also included the airstrip’s importance to the community, its use by emergency services, for training purposes, its support of tourism ventures and the sale’s effect on local business.

A report prepared this month by the council’s acting general manager Harry Galea concluded there were three possible methods of sale for the airstrip: public auction, closed public tender process or private sale. 

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