New airport fees appear in the City of Greater Bendigo's proposed budget, which is open for comment.

They include a landing fee of at least $10.10, dependent on the weight of the aircraft.

Annual user fees have also been proposed, as well as flight trainer charges.

Discounts have been suggested for locals and Bendigo Airport leaseholders in some of the proposed fee categories.

The city has been considering introducing new airport fees for more than a year.

Its draft budget noted the timing of the introduction of fees had yet to be confirmed, given the impact of COVID-19.

Graeme Serjeant, of Sarge's Light Sport Aviation, said he was disappointed the council was planning on going ahead with it.

"It's at a time when all businesses are struggling," he said.

The coronavirus pandemic meant he shut his business down for two months. Mr Serjeant said others were in similar positions.

"I think it's a very inappropriate time to be adding new fees," he said.

"I think they will not get the income they expect, for various reasons."

Bendigo Flying Club chief flying instructor Linda Beilharz said the city had responded to some of the feedback provided during consultations.

Changes were evident in the proposed fees, some of which Ms Beilharz said were initially "about five times the price they've ended up on".

An annual flight training fee of $5000 was initially proposed. It has dropped to $1100 for a Bendigo Airport leaseholder, and $2200 for a non-local flight training provider.

"They could have been a lot worse - we are grateful for that," Ms Beilharz said.

But concerns remained.

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"The flying club has continued to tell them [the city] we don't believe landing fees are a good model for revenue raising... even if the fee is small," Ms Beilharz said.

"We would rather a different revenue raising process."

She said introducing landing fees could act as a disincentive.

The proposed fees could also increase the cost of learning how to fly, for both students and for training providers.

Ms Beilharz said the flying club knew its budget would be affected by the new fees, if they were adopted.

But the extent to which the flying club would suffer was still unknown, with discussions yet to be had about how the proposed fees would apply.

Ms Beilharz said the club would have to work out whether it could absorb the costs, to try to minimise the impact on students.

"It costs enough to learn how to fly," she said.

She believed general aviation contributed more to the Bendigo economy than the city recognised.

"We recognise the city has to put money into the airport, so airport fees are a way councils are recouping some of the costs," Ms Beilharz said.

Concerns remained that the general aviation sector would end up paying for infrastructure needed primarily for commercial passenger services.

"We love passenger aircraft for Bendigo. It's a great economic stimulator to have that," Ms Beilharz said.

"But it is regrettable that we have to end up paying fees."

City of Greater Bendigo business services manager Ben Devanny said the consultation process received a lot of feedback.

"Some people didn't think we should have fees at all, at lot of other people thought the fees were too high," he said.

Some thought fees might hurt the growth of flight training at Bendigo Airport.

Mr Devanny said acknowledged there was a risk the airport's traffic might decline.

"We think there might be some decline in activity, but we don't think it will be significant," he said.

He said the fees the city proposed to apply were in line with those of smaller airports like Shepparton's.

Efforts had been made to recognise the contributions local airport users and flight trainers provided through changes to the proposed fees.

Mr Devanny said an external firm would be contracted to monitor landing fees, if implemented.

The proposed budget is open for comment until 6pm on June 17.

To make a submission, visit bendigo.vic.gov.au/About/Budget