Corporate Contrails

Unfortunately these developments which flow on to Australian corporate efficiency are being marred by our continued inefficient handling within airspace adjacent to congested airports such as Sydney. One wonders when someone in the halls of power in Canberra will realise the strength of feeling within the corporate members of ABAA concerning this issue. Despite an appeal to the Minister, Gareth Evans, to intervene in the matter, the bureaucracy did not even grace us with a reply within four months. This lack of response serves only to breed even greater dissatisfaction and distrust of the authorities within the ABAA.

1988 Abaa Conference and Exhibition

The 1988 ABAA Conference and Exhibition will be held at the Conrad International Hotel on the Gold Coast on 1st and 2nd December 1988. A trade exhibition will take place for the first time and early indications are that the demand for space will outstrip availability. It will be an excellent opportunity for suppliers to the business aviation sector to display their products and services. Aircraft will be able to be displayed at the nearby Coolangatta Airport.

The theme of the Conference will be: Business Aircraft – Corporate tool for the 1990’s. Our major speakers will address matters which impinge upon both safety and the ability to provide efficient transport to the corporate community for the next decade and beyond. Among keynote speakers will be Jonathon Howe, President of the NBAA in the United States who will address delegates on the effect of massive volume increases in Air Transport in the United States over the past decade.

If you have any interest at all in business aviation or you are within a corporation which may benefit from business aviation, we would be delighted to see you at our Conference. Full details of both the Conference and Exhibition will be available shortly from the ABAA, Bldg 190, Essendon Airport 3041.

Civil Aviation Authority

The ABAA notes with regret the decision by the Government to establish the Civil Aviation Authority in Canberra within the Public Service. Like a number of other organisations consulted during the lead up to this announcement, we felt that both of these issues were fundamental to the future responsiveness of the CAA.

Perpetuating its location in Canberra, where the establishment is increasingly out of touch with the needs of the aviation community, will not serve to allay our fears about its efficiency and cost effective ness. Allowing its retention within the Public Service does not fill the ABAA with confidence as to the future direction of the Authority. While it is accepted that safety issues should not be reduced in importance, it was not and never will be justification for maintaining the status quo.

Our views are shared by many of the other industry organisations anq we are disturbed to find that once again consultation was ignored when it finally came to the bureaucrats advising the Minister on the best course of action.

Federal Airports Corporation

During February the ABAA attended the second consultation meeting with the senior management of the Federal Airports Corporation. During the meeting Bill Swingler, Chief Executive of the FAC outlined steps that had been taken since the establishment of the FAC. He emphasised that the Corporation viewed its future on a commercial basis and in that regard advised that master planning for some major airports had been accelerated so that developments could proceed. He also emphasised the autonomy of his local Airport Managers and that their budgets for 1988/89 had been approved.

Although it is early days for the Corporation, it is pleasing to see that its staff numbers are already less than was previously needed by the Department of Aviation for the same tasks.

Our experience thus far with the FAC reinforces our views on the future of the Civil Aviation Authority. The FAG has been established outside the Public Service closer to the ‘action’. This must bring longer term benefits to all sectors of the industry.

Sydney Airport

By the time these words appear in print another NSW election will have come and gone. Interestingly, the subject that was not able to be discussed by either party in the election, Sydney Airport, continues to be a totally inadequate facility for either the State or the nation. The politicians refuse to address the issues associated with the urgent needs of the airport as if they will go away.

In the meantime, the Federal Government accept, without question, the introduction of dozens of additional weekly flights by both Australian and Ansett Airlines and at the same time State Government approves the introduction of increased commuter airline activity. While the ABAA does not argue with the need for such increases in service levels, it does abhor a situation where no recognition is given to ‘grandfather rights’ of existing operators or tenants.

As the authorities sit idly by without grasping the ‘nettle’, the business aircraft user is being increasingly disadvantaged at the bottom of an ever growing queue. Simple solutions which are environmentally acceptable can be applied at Sydney associated with a ‘fast track’ building programme to provide a reliever runway, fast turn offs and improved ATC equipment.

One of the ABAA captains who regularly operates to both Europe and North America sums up the feelings of the aviation community “Wherever I go overseas, even to the most congested terminals such as Los Angeles or London, I do not experience the level of delays and interference with my flight planning as I do in Australia and particularly Sydney. In Australia it is almost impossible to complete a flight as planned and at every stage ATC query every intention of the pilot in command. The international pilots look upon Sydney Airportas a joke as it is more like an anairport of the1960’s with its crossing runways and restricted site. “