Mounting calls for an urgent revisit and eventual upgrade of the safety measures at Launceston Airport attracted the support of the local government and business sectors with aviator Dick Smith declaring that aviation authorities must act now or any more meetings to discuss the issue would only amount to nothing.

Mr Smith, also former chair of Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), has expressed frustration over the Australian Transport Safety Bureau report into the near-collision of two planes in 2008, where he said an estimated 200 passengers could have died when both planes overshot their approaches on the runway and nearly crashed due to heavy fog.

He lambasted the report for stating that the aviation system at that time was in place and working and the bureau report eventually leave out any recommendations for some changes to be made, as he pointed out that checking existing regulations would show that air traffic control operators were off duty during the incident and radar was not even in use.

Mr Smith said that stressed that radar coverage for Tasmania was not available at that time since the control tower staff were not trained to operate the system.

He thwarted Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese's call for a meeting, saying that authorities should act instead of wasting their time on talks as he underscored his point by asking "What is the use of having a meeting when they do nothing?"

On his part, Tasmanian Liberal Senator Guy Barnett affirmed that air safety conditions at the airport urgently beg for attention as he asserted that the present arrangement is insufficient with evidence he allegedly obtained from Air Services Australia showing that "the control tower is being unmanned after 10:00pm while 29 flights landed after 10:00pm on June 30 this year, now that is a cause for serious concern."

Also, Launceston Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive officer Lou Clark said that passengers' safety must be given importance as she emphasised that "we need to consider what we can do in terms of training for air traffic controllers and see if we can utilise the technology that's obviously available."

And Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten could only agree as he expressed disappointment that safety was being compromised, adding that endangering passengers is "something that needs to be dealt with and we can not at any time compromise on safety. I'll be having those discussions and we'll see where they lead."