WHITSUNDAY regional councillors have voted unanimously on a proposal to deliver international charter flights to the Whitsundays in 2016.

The proposal, for stages one and two of a three-stage process, has been pitched by AVMIN, a specialist air charter firm majority owned by the Flight Centre group.

AVMIN managing director Paul O'Brien said stage one was about getting the airport compliant in terms of regulations for international flights, while stage two was about finding suitable carriers. Moving forward, he said stage three would entail using Flight Centre's global distribution network to ensure the flights were full.

Mr O'Brien said the first destination connecting the Whitsundays to the wider world was likely to be New Zealand.

"And obviously there's a growing market for Asia," he said. "It isn't all about casinos - seeing the reef and seeing the Whitsundays is something very exciting that the Whitsundays, Proserpine and Airlie Beach can deliver."

While Mr O'Brien remained reasonably "tight-lipped" about the potential carriers, preferring to "hold off until we get all our ducks in a row", he did say Cathay Pacific was in the mix, along with "a number of others".

He said the current plan was to see New Zealand services established by mid-2016, with Asian connectivity in the pipeline after that.

"We would have liked to have it for Chinese New Year, but that's not realistic," he said.

Council's CEO Scott Waters said AVMIN was a recognised leader in delivering charter services and logistics in Queensland.

Mr Waters said it should be noted that after stages one and two had been finalised, Council would be briefed prior to receiving any further recommendations or a decision being made.

He also stressed this was all completely separate to the ongoing expression of interest process whereby council was seeking to partner with the private sector in a joint venture to develop and grow the airport.