Corporate Contrails

These type of statements from a Minister displays a complete lack of knowledge of a complex subject and merely reinforces our view that successive Ministers responsible for the aviation portfolio are out of touch with reality. These ‘banana skins’ seem to abound in the aviation portfolio and we suggest that greater care should be taken on such matters. . . .

A number of former Ministers responsible for this portfolio have advised us that they proposed to meet with the industry to canvass views on matters of concern. To date no such privilege has been afforded, possibly because they have not been in the portfolio iong enough to reach the point of requiring a balanced view.

We can only appeal to the new Minister for Transport and Communications; Ralph Willis, to instruct his junior Ministers to communicate with the industry they serve. It is simply not good enough for them to listen to the one sided view of their advisers, Uke other industry representative bodies such as the GAA, we are frustrated when decisions continue to be reached without consultation.

We understand for instance that a joint State/Federal Committee has been looking into the airport needs of the Sydney basin. To date they have not chosen to speak with any of the industry bodies and all attempts to access information from the Committee have been met with secrecy.

Fac Primary Airport Charges

We have also recently been briefed on the proposed punitive charges to be imposed by the FAC at Sydney Airport on all operators other than airline companies. There was no industry consultation on the matter despite it being required within the FAC Act.

The FAC propose to impose peak hour punitive charges and minimum charges in an attempt to push ‘General Aviation’ out of Sydney Airport. This is despite the fact that business aircraft can use no other airport in the Sydney basin.

Although the proposition may be appropriate, we can only accept this draconian measure if it is applied universally to all. users. Its introduction should be seen against the background of Ministeria disapproval for a close spaced reliever runway for Sydney and an unwillingness on behalf of the FAC to take on the airlines.

We have been advised by the FAC that they do not foresee gaining any revenue from the measure as it will be effective. This is unrealistic. Do they really expect the business aircraft user to reschedule operations to relieve their problem of not providing adequate runway capacity?

In essence it appears that the FAC is unwilling to take initiatives to control the access of airline traffic even when, between 0800/0900 on most mornings, there is 300% more traffic scheduled than there is runway capacity. They seemingly prefer to attack other users, the vast majority of whom will simply have to pay the extra charges.

Buoyant Market for Business Aircraft

lnteravia recently reported that the Australia/New Zealand Region experienced the fastest growth of business aircraft numbers over the past year. Overall they reported that the market had increased by 17. 9% which is very encouraging.

Within the ABAA we foresee this trend continuing for some time as Australian business continues its push into some of the major markets of the world. We predict that a growing number of Australian companies will seek to establish a strong European base prior to 1992 so that they may access that trading bloc. In addition, we foresee increased activity on the north/south axis between North Asia and Australia.

Countries such as Thailand, Korea, Taiwan and China are expanding their economies rapidly . and will present further opportunities for commercial expansion. In addition, the rapid expansion of our tourism industry and allied property development is introducing more companies to the value of business aircraft.

Nbaa Convention 1988 – Dallas

A strong contingent of Australians were able to attend the 1988 NBAA Convention in Dallas which broke all records for attendance. Over 15,000 visitors attended the first day and the exhibition had over 500 stands. The main feature this year was that the NBAA is fighting battles over airport access and Jonathon Howe, President NBAA, called for solidarity in addressing this matter. The NBAA fields a powerful lobby and undoubtedly has behind it considerable strength.

The size of business aviation in the United States was exemplified by two facts. New FBOs, whose terminals largely support the business aircraft users at US airports, are being built at costs in excess of US$6m each. These substantial investments are being made by such organisations as AMR which owns American Airlines. Additionally the writer engaged in conversation with the president of a large multinational US based company to investigate the size of their corporate flight department (usually one aircraft in Australia). He was proud to advise that the department had 29 aircraft ranging from Gulfstream G3 to King Air and that they ran schedules for company staff to avoid the time wastage attached to flying by airlines.

Another interesting discovery was that few US airports have arbitrary restrictions on their use. It almost seems opposite to the situation in Australia where the CAA and its predecessors have; for many years, imposed arbitrary restrictions on certain aircraft using specific airports. These are often not related to actual pavement restrictions or indeed operational limitations but continue to be published as such in our AIP/AGA documents. Like Australia, most US cities have a number of airports but there are no artificial restrictions invented by the FAA to preclude access. This naturally allows for a far better spread of air traffic and greater flexibility.

The writer was fortunate to personally sample the value of business aviation as a guest of Canadair on a recent transpacific flight to NBAA: We routed from Sydney via Pago Pago, Honolulu to Dallas in a Challenger 3A and it clearly demonstrated what a potent tool this ciass of aircraft is.

One final footnote, needless to say when we called for taxi clearance on our flight to Pago Pago we were denied start up clearance for 50 minutes despite clear blue skies and nothing abnormal except for airspace congestion. The amazing thing about this scenario is that it is happening every day and neither the CAA nor the FAC have the initiative to bring about an ‘orderly, expeditious and safe’ system of airspace management.