Airline Affairs

Separation between the two runways would be such that dual operations could be undertaken to their fullest extent, something that the group estimates would increase KSA’s existing capacity by 111%.

Observers we have spoken with though feel that figure a trifle optimistic and something closer to 80% might be appropriate.

This, however, is roughly twice as productive as has previously been suggested using a three runway system.

The second parallel runway would basically intersect at the eastern end of the present 07/25 east-west runway and would be of either 2,000m or 2,600m in length.

A 2,000m runway would not require landfill penetration into Botany Bay and would only require the resumption of a minor portion of existing industrial and residential land.

The other benefit the group sees is that as all movements would be in a north-south axis, then the present noise affected suburbs to the east and west of KSA would be virtually free of noise.

Suburbs such as Randwick, Hurstville and Rockdale would not have aircraft overflying them at all.

The group would, only see the east-west runway being used for declared emergencies and on the handful of days each year when the crosswind component on smaller aircraft necessitated their operation from 07/25.

The Group estimated that the entire plan could be in place within three years at a cost of well under $300m.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Aviation Minister, Gary Punch chaired a press conference with Tourism Minister Senator Richardson to declare that Badgerys Creek would be fast-tracked and would be operational within three years.

He stated that the whole issue was going to Cabinet during March at which hopefully a final decision would be taken to accelerate the development of Badgerys Creek.

Mr Punch also stated that further runway development at KSA was definitely not on the agenda and would not even be open for discussion at the meeting.

Record Christmas Uplift for Qantas:

Qantas flew a record 400,000 passengers on its services between December 15 and January 15.

This is the busiest Christmas period on record and is 15% up on the previous year.

To cope with the extra demand, more than 180 round trip supplementary flights were scheduled.

Qantas catering was also busier than usual, turning out on Christmas Day alone some 50,000 portions of turkey breasts, 400 litres of cranberry sauce, 600kg of lobsters, 300kg of smoked salmon and 120,000 Christmas puddings.

More Nsw Route Announcements Imminent:

The NSW Air Transport Council was due to announce a new series of intrastate route approvals come May 1 this year.

The routes under most serious consideration were those of Moree/Narrabri to Sydney: Griffith/Narrandera to Sydney and Coomal Merimbula/Moruya to Sydney.

Routes serving Tamworth, Albury and the Hunter Region ports of Williamtown, Maitland, Cessnock, Singleton and Scone were also under early consideration.

Later in the year it is hoped that firm decisions will be made as to routes to Bathurst, Lord Howe Island, Broken Hill, Coffs Harbour and the growing Casino/Lismore/Ballina region.

In the past year some 57 routes have been reviewed resulting in 46 country towns gaining a guarantee of air services.

The wholesale review was prompted as a result of the Trade Practices Commission ruling following the Ansett takeover of East-West Airlines.

As a consequence, EWA has withdrawn from almost all NSW rural routes in favour of rapidly expanding carriers such as the Australian Airlines aligned Eastern and Hazelton Airlines.

Guy Lloyd Sells Fixed Wing Interests:

Guy Lloyd has sold his interest in the group’s fixed wing operations.

This includes the Lloyd commuter airline divisions in both South Australia and Queensland in addition to the company’s jet charter division.

TNT had acquired the Lloyd Air commuter operations based in Adelaide following an earlier purchase of the charter division which includes Citation and F. 28 jet aircraft.

Guy Lloyd will now concentrate entirely on his helicopter division.

Meanwhile, rapidly expanding Norfolk Island Airways has acquired the Brisbane based Lloyd Air operation complete with its 4 Mohawk 298 aircraft.

These will continue to serve the Brisbane to Bundaberg and Gladstone routes under the colours of Queensland Pacific Airlines.

QPA has also just purchased Sungold Airlines and now becomes a major third level force within Queensland.

QPA, via its two recent acquisitions will now serve the following ports: Maroochydore, Hervey Bay, Orchid Island, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Townsville, Mackay, Thangool, Emerald, Blackwater, Claremont, Dysart and Moranbah.

Aircraft inherited from Sungold include 4 Chieftains and a BN Islander.

During 1988, QPA parent, Norfolk Island Airways also took over Sunbird Airlines, the Cairns based commuter.

Norfolk meanwhile expect to place into operation their first DHC Dash 8-100 during September on the expanding Brisbane to Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands run.

Along with Kendells, Eastern and Sunstate, Norfolk are rapidly becoming a major force in the second and third level arena of Australian aviation.

Australianairlines Forging Ahead in Passenger Stakes:

Afteryears of playing second fiddle to Ansett, a revitalised Australian Airlines has finished 1988 as clear leader in the marketplace.

Data released by the airline show that in the final half of 1988 Australian easily beat Ansett on all counts of passenger uplift, including the sought after business market, long the preserve of private enterprise Ansett.

Figures from the Roy Morgan omnibus survey show that for the September quarter Australian captured 41. 8% of business traffic vs 37. 3% for Ansett. For the frequent flyer market (7 trips or more per annum) Australian captured 41. 5% against 39% for Ansett.

A year earlier the figures were more than reversed in Ansett’s favour. More importantly, the overall DoTC traffic figures for 1988 show that the Government owned domestic uplifted 15. 4% more passengers in 1988 than in ’87 as against an increase by Ansett of only 8. 1%. Australian also increased its air cargo business by 12. 7% as against 7.

7% by Ansett, though the latter had a far greater uplift to begin with owing to its extensive Ansett Air Freight operation.

Australian has improved its total product considerably these past two years and their business class has proven to be a source of continued growth.

However, probably the biggest single factor affecting the large-scale move across to Australian in the final months of last year was the threat, both real and continually implied, of strike action by flight attendants in support of greater crew numbers aboard the Ansett A320.

Extra Aircraft Leased for Qantas Freight:

The Qantas Cargo Division has leased three additional freighters to cope with increased cargo demand into and out of Australia over the coming year.

The three deals with Martinair, World Airways and Lufthansa cover periods from mid-November, 1988 until April 1990.

The Martinair DC-10 commenced freight operations last November between Frankfurt and Sydney, carrying general cargo in a pure freighter configuration unit the end of December.

This covered the expanding demand for cargo capacity in the traditional pre-Christmas peak season.

The Lufthansa deal for a Boeing 747F freigh- ter was also signed at the end of November to cover a period of 12 months from April 1989.

The deal is in addition to the existing 747F operating Frankfurt/Melbourne and the second 747F will carry general cargo between Frankfurt and Sydney.

Qantas Cargo also arranged the lease of a World Airways DC-1OF freighter to operate between New York and Sydney via the west coast of the United States from mid-December, 1988 for 12 months.

Qantas use the Martinair aircraft to carry freight between Sydney and Asia and plan to use the World Airways aircraft on similar services.

Us Air Transport Posts Its Sixth Successive Growth Year:

Long gone are the memories of the early eighties recession as airlines, everywhere, nowadays struggle with a lack of capacity in both their fleets and at the major ports they serve.

Figures released by the US Air Transport Association indicate that US domestic uplift increased by a very healthy 6% during 1988 with most of the increase taking place in the latter half of the year reflecting true growth rates of double that figure in many cases when weighted as a half year average.

United naturally was number one with 127,903m Revenue Passenger Kilometres, an increase of 4. 1% on 1987 (includes international services where applicable). American was next with 119,981m RPK up 14. 1%. Delta had 95,729m RPK up 11. 3%. Continental had 75,042m up 2. 2% while TWA logged 64,300m up 5. 6%.

Just for the record the total Australian domestic RPK tally for 1988 was 13,925m or about the equivalent of the uplift of the US domestic secondary carriers such as Southwest or America West!

Record Traffic Growth Continues for Domestic Airlines:

Australia’s domestic airlines enjoyed record traffic growth during 1988. DOTC figures for the year showed a 9. 6% increase in passengers travelling with the major domestic carriers. The airlines also carried 7% more cargo during the same period.

The 1988 figures show continued strong growth in the number of passengers carried, which has averaged almost 8% annually for the past five years.

The especially strong performance by Australian Airlines during 1988 was highlighted by the December quarter results.

Passengers carried by Australian rose by 14. 6%, compared with the same period in 1987, while those carried by Ansell Airlines showed a decline of 3. 8%, largely due to the effects of final quarter flight attendant industrial action. Australian also lifted its share of passengers carried to 44. 4% in the December quarter, representing a 4% rise compared with the same period in 1987. Hours flown by Australian’s fleet rose by 10. 8% during the December 1988 quarter, while Ansell’s fleet hours increased by 3. 4% in the same quarter.

Transport Minister Mr Ralph Willis said the strongest passenger growth in the December quarter had been to major tourist destinations in Queensland, Western Australia and northern New South Wales. “The highest growth rates were experienced at Broome, with 40. 9%, Geraldton, with 24. 6% and Coffs Harbour with 22. 4%,” Mr Willis said.

Expo 88 contributed to higher growth rates early in the December quarter and this was reflected by a 12. 8% increase in passenger traffic at Brisbane Airport. Coolangatta also recorded an 8% increase compared with the December quarter 1987.

World Scheduled Airline Traffic Growth Sustained in 1988:

Total scheduled traffic of the world’s airlines in 1988 was 7% above the 1987 traffic, according to preliminary estimates released by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Total international and domestic traffic performed by airlines of ICAO’s 160 member States on scheduled services in 1988 is estimated at some 210 billion (one billion is equal to 1,000 million) tonne kilometres.

The airlines carried over one billion passengers for the second year in a row, with an increase of some 4 % over 1987 and they performed 1 .

7 billion passenger kilometres, or nearly 7% more than in 1987.

It should be noted that the number of seats offered by the scheduled airlines rose, but at a lower rate than the number of passengers carried and therefore the estimated passenger load factor went up by one point to 68%.

Air freight is estimated to have increased by about 10% in 1988, to some 53 billion tonne kilometres while airmail showed an increase of nearly 3%.

 Air NZ Starts Sydney/LAX Direct Services:

Air New Zealand will begin direct flights from Sydney to Los Angeles on March 27, exercising new air rights granted to the New Zealand Carrier under bilateral talks last year.

The New Zealand airline has been flying the Australia/Los Angeles route for 22 years and currently has 8 flights a week from Sydney to Los Angeles via Auckland, its home base.

From March 27, it will operate an additional two direct flights a week from Sydney via Honolulu to Los Angeles using its 747-200 aircraft.

Badgerys vs Wilton-a Look Back in Time:

With all the words now being expounded far and wide regarding Badgerys Creek and the Sydney airport fiasco, we thought it was worth reviewing the official DotA review study of 1985 that compared the two favoured sites, Badgerys Creek and Wilton, as the next major airport for Sydney.

The most noticeable point was that for a long time, in fact for well more than a decade, the people of Badgerys aggressively fought against the concept of having an airport in their locality.

At the time of the decision the people of the Wilton region, by and large, actually wanted the airport and the mass of new job opportunities such a facility would bring to the entire southem and Illawarra region.

Other comparisons make interesting reading in hindsight – Badgerys site area is 1,770ha against 1,440ha for Wilton.

Airspace consequences for Badgerys indicate significant changes required as against minimal changes required for Wilton.

Market value of land at Badgerys was $31. 5m as against $1. 8m for Wilton (1985 dollars). Badgerys displaced some 750 people as against less than 10 at Wilton. On the crucial issue of noise, the population within the 20 ANEF noise contour at Badgerys was 1,951 as against 130 at Wilton while the number seriously affected by noise was 364 versus 18 and those moderately affected was 1,115 against 68.

The area of arable agricultural land within the Badgerys site was 1,405ha against 65 at Wilton while the area within the 20 ANEF noise contour was 1,896ha against 0.

On the aspect of the effect on regional planning and development functions, the report stated that at Badgerys the research and technical facilities in the sub-region may be adversely affected while for Wilton it reported that there would be minimal restrictions arising from airport development.

In construction terms Badgerys would require 69,000m2 of fill whereas Wilton would actually produce an 128,000m3 excess (fill is always in demand).

About the only areas where Wilton failed was in access to the Sydney CBD.

The report estimating average peak hour travel by road from Badgerys to the CBD being 69 minutes against 102 from Wilton while rail access (via SLMarys) from Badgerys would be 72 minutes and 68 minutes if via Glenfield, while it would take 88 minutes via Douglas Park and 84 minutes via Appin from Wilton.

However, as the Very Fast Train (assuming it reaches fruition) will pass close to Wilton (and will also have a station at KSA and Canberra airport), that journey time could well be more than halved in addition to providing southern VFT connections of great potential.

With all of the above data at its fingertips the Government selected Badgerys Creek and to our knowledge some of the affected residents are still awaiting a reasonable settlement for their land!

The Problems of Being Big:

Apparently mega carriers also come with mega problems, if a recent edition of the well produced United Times (United’s in-house magazine) is any guide.

Management of the carrier were lamenting the amount of funds that would be required just to keep at the top of the US airline tree.

United, which for a long time was dubbed The 900lb Gorilla” is now the second ranking US carrier to American Airlines.

AA is not only now more profitable but ended 1988 with a fleet of some 470 aircraft against only 405 for United.

Furthermore, with orders and options exercised it appears that the 900lb Gorilla’ might well be shedding some weight.

Delta is slated to go to number one in fleet size with a projected fleet of 723 aircraft, then comes American with 637, USAir with 553, then United with 487, Northwest with 459 and Continental with 335.

Adding to the problem is the fact that United has one of the oldest fleets in the industry: 115 of its aircraft or 28% of its fleet are more than 20 years old.

The United Times states that the amount of money required to fund the necessary re-equipment plan is astounding.

A spending plan providing only modest growth is estimated to cost the huge sum of $US7.

4bn, which is more than the present year’s total Australian budget for defence.

However, one that would provide growth and reduce the average age of United’s fleet would cost $US11.

8bn by 1993!The sensitivity of these figures is further appreciated when it is revealed that the mere four percentage point loss of traffic that United suffered during 1988 to American was the equivalent of $US1. 6bn in forsaken revenue. Big airlines, big dollars!

Raving Capitalists:

Is this the start of a new Russian Revolution? Aeroflot is introducing business class on some of its flights.

The benefits will be increased legroom, priority check in and a larger baggage allowance.

Where have all the old standards gone?

South Pacific Happenings:

Airlines of the South Pacific have been going through a relatively unstable period these past two years largely due to the political upheavals that regrettably are creating severe problems in a number of once prime tourist destinations.

Air Pacific survives in modest profit despite the overall weakening of the Fijan economy while Air Caledonie should now be able to improve its uplift having replaced its nostalgic though highly inefficient Caravelle with a Boe- ing 737-300.

Meanwhile, Royal Tongan has replaced the flagship title previously flown by Friendly Island Airways with the Japanese backed consortium hoping to commence regional MD-87 services by mid year.

The MD-87 twinjet will greatly increase capacity into Tonga which presently is difficult to access due to lack of available capacity by both Air New Zealand and Polynesian Airlines.

The MD-87 will be leased from GPA and will be maintained by Air New Zealand at Auckland.

The NZ Government is actively assisting the Kingdom of Tonga in developing Royal Tongan as part of their long-term aid programme.

Despite earlier rumours to the contrary Polynesian Airlines and Cook Islands International will also be keeping their Ansett owned Boeing 727-200 for at least another year though are looking at ultimately acquiring an aircraft in the 757 class if their present rate of growth continues.

With problems in Noumea, Vanuatu and Fiji, Rarotonga and Western Samoa have taken on new and justified appeal.

Not apparently affected by social strife is the Air Vanuatu charter using an Australian Airlines 727 ex Sydney each Saturday.

Polynesian also serve this port the following day and both carriers report strong loads.

Despite the unfortunate problems of the region, compared with a decade ago, the major airline scene within the South Pacific is much more developed than it was with considerable potential on the horizon as international tourism continues to grow.

Ansett Wins A320 Crewing Verdict:

The Conciliation and Arbitration Commission has ruled in favour of Ansett in their long running cabin crew dispute over the introduction of the A320 twinjet.

Ansett wanted 5 Flight Attendants aboard the aircraft while the Australian Flight Attendants’ Association demanded 6 as usu-ally carried on the slightly larger 727-200 which the A320 is replacing in Ansett service.

The dispute flared last October with FA strike action that cost the airline dearly.

Following the resolution of the strike itself follow on publicity from the AFAA intimated that further actionwould not be ruled out prior to Christmas, causing a flood of passengers to naturally switch bookings to Australian Airlines.

Canadian Merger:

Canada’s second and third largest airlines – Canadian Airlines International and Wardair have merged, following the former’s purchase of Wardair for about $C250m.

The move will not outwardly effect Wardair’s operations as it will continue to operate as a separate entity.

The airlines will now have a combined fleet of some 101 aircraft, only slightly less than national carrier Air Canada’s 111 aircraft.

In addition Canadian has 47 air- craft on order and Wardair 42, most of them ordered recently.

Ansett Wins Ipec From Australian:

In a major move to further strengthen their air cargo division, Ansett has signed a three year contract with IPEC that replaces a similar long-term contract that the specialist air freight operator previously held with Australian Airlines.

The new agreement with Ansett commenced on January 1st this year and at times of peak demand could well see Australian having to lease space from rival Ansett now that IPEC is operating in conjunction with that carrier.

IPEC are also reviewing their fleet requirements in light of the fact that their Argosy freighters will not be able to operate during curfew hours at Sydney airport from next January.

The aircraft will still be able to service Brisbane and of course Essendon, though their total viability without stopping at Sydney may make them uneconomic to operate in the longer term.

IPEC presently operate 3 Dart powered Argosys and 1 DC-9-30 Freighter, one of only 3 such aircraft in the world.

IPĒC is thus studying the feasibility of re-engining the DC-9 with the RR Tay or converting the existing P&W JT8DS with hushkits though both these options will not be operationally viable for several year yet.

One other option is for IPEC to re-equip with a fleet of BAe 146QTs, 2 of which will commence operation with Ansett Air Freight this April.

As Ansett Worldwide Leasing have the sole marketing/leasing rights to the entire 146QT line through till at least 1993 then the IPEC/ Ansett tie up could see more of these ultra quiet aircraft gracing our shores.

Meanwhile, to overcome the capacity loss through now not being able to use the Ipec fleet, Australian Airlines is utilising the A300 as a dedicated freighter between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and the 727-100 freighter currently serving the Melbourne/Perth route has been extended to Tasmania.

FedEx Gets Flying Tigers:

presstime it appeared that the merger between freight specialists, Federal Express and Flying Tigers would proceed.

It is believed that FedEx will pay $US880m for Flying Tigers.

Tigers has also just reported a much improved 1987/88 financial performance of $US89.

5m on operating revenue of $US1. 3bn.

At presstime it was not known whether FedEx would discontinue the historic Flying Tigers title or operate the carrier as a separate arm of the specialist night package courier operator.

FedEx operates a fleet of 27 DC-10- 30s, 63 727s with up to 40 more inbound and has also 200 Cessna Caravans in service or on order.

It employs some 44,000 people worldwide and operates in 85 countries.

Flying Tigers on the other hand is more of a long haul heavy freight specialist and has a fleet of 20 7478, 6 DC-8-738 and 14 727s and employs 6,100 people.

Eastern Becomes an Australian Airlines Clone in New Corporate Restructuring:

February 6 saw Eastern Australia Airlines adopt a new livery and rejuvenated corporate image as the countdown to deregulation begins to speed up.

The once small commuter is now flying its two Dash 8 36 seat turboprops in full Australian Airlines livery on its three times a day services linking Sydney with Armidale and Port Macquarie in NSW.

Eastern is now 42% owned by Australian with the remaining 58% shareholding remaining in the hands of the air- line’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr John Roworth.

The move is another example of how aggressively Australian Airlines is shaping up for deregulation with moves to strengthen its rural feed into its major hubs to fight off the bevy of Ansett owned and sponsored regionals.

Eastern’s fleet of Cessna 402s, Bandeirantes and Jetstreams (which ironically were once in Australian livery) will be repainted in the new colours as they require same.

Three Major Asian Airlines to Join Abacus:

China Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Philippines Airlines have signed letters of intent to become partners along with Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines in Abacus, the new Asia Pacific Computer Reservation System (CRS).

Under the terms of the agreement, all five airlines will participate fully in all Abacus activities, including product development, marketing of the system to Asian travel agents and Abacus negotiations with other similar travel service providers throughout the region.

Abacus is in the process of implementing Phase 1 of its start-up programme, as scheduled.

Training of travel agents has already begun in Hong Kong.

Abacus Phase 1 allows local travel agents direct access to Pars, the mega CRS owned by Northwest and TWA.

Agents can thus access information and make instant bookings on a wide range of airlines, hotels and car rental service suppliers worldwide.

By the end of 1989, Abacus will replace the existing Hong Kong travel agency automation system, Cutas developed by Cathay Pacific.

There are more than seven hundred Cutas terminals installed in travel agencies in Hong Kong.

The total cost of the project is estimated at SUS100 million, with the mature system serving up to 10,000 terminals connected to the core mainframe.

Airline Smoking Bans Spread:

Along with a number of other major airlines, Qantas is to trial run a totally non smoking flight.

Effective from March 1 QF49 serving Sydney/Auckland daily and the return QF40 will be designated as totally smoke free flights.

Qantas’s other daily Sydney/Auckland service will be flown in the normal smoking/non smok- ing configuration.

The trial will run for three months and if it proves popular then the carrier will begin to introduce similar smoke free services on its other short sector flights.

Qantas is not alone in introducing smoke free flights.

Both Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific are now running smoke free flights.

SIA on their 13 weekly Singapore/ Penang services and Cathay on the busy HK/ Taipei route.

Considering the Asian’s propensity to light up, then this represents quite a breakthrough in regional social behaviour.

SIA implemented the latest smoke free services following wide support from passengers on the 14 daily smoke free shuttles linking Singapore with Kuala Lumpur that were introduced last August.

Meanwhile, while smoking on US domestic flights of less than two hours duration is banned, Delta is now reporting that less than 15% of its general configuration is now dedicated to smokers, such is the lack of demand even where smoking is permitted.

About two thirds of all US domestic flights are affected by the smoking ban while Northwest Airlines bans smoking on all its US domestic services irrespective of distance flown.

Lovely Banks Nearing Launch:

A jet capable airport at Lovely Banks, near Gee- long.

Victoria is nearing approval following a long and drawn out period of negotiation between the previous owners and Girvan Corporation who wish to develop the airport.

Lovely Banks would be constructed to full 737/A320 capability and would be used to tap a huge potential Geelong and Western Victorian regional market that now has to travel.

to Tullamarine in order to connect by jet aircraft to other states.

It was hoped that final negotiations as to the long-term future of the proposed private venture facility would be finalised at presstime with a hoped for commencement of construction later this year.

 Cairns Airport News:

In an interesting move which might well be worth watching in view of the current problems with airports around Australia generally, the Cairns Port Authority has assumed full responsibility for funding the maintenance, operation and development of Cairns Airport.

The move in effect means a withdrawal by the CPA from the Airports Local Ownership Plan (ALOP) which first transferred ownership of the airport from the Government to the CPA in 1981.

The ALOP provided payments by the government to the CPA of a 50% subsidy for maintenance and development works but this was later reduced.

The matter came to a head in 1986 with the introduction of cost recovery, after which the Federal Government levied landing charges on all scheduled aircraft using Caims Airport.

The situation made it very difficult for the CPA to develop the airport at a pace appropriate to the rapid growth within the Cairns region.

Under the new agreement the CPA will release the Federal Government from its obligation to provide a subsidy and it in turn will cease collecting landing charges.

Instead, the CPA will impose its own landing charges (as well as what is described as a ‘passenger throughput levy) which will be collected from the airlines by the CPA and will go towards the airport’s Stage 2 development works estimated to cost $65m.

The new situation leaves the Civil Aviation Authority responsible only for its obligatory air traffic control, fire fighting and rescue services.

A Preview of Deregulation?

With just a year and a half before the fabled Two Airline Policy is at last buried and hopefully replaced with something equating to a greater degree of operational freedom and true competition, it is interesting to note a new holiday package offer from East-West which hopefully will be typical of the sort of bargains that deregulation is meant to create.

Marketed as Impulse Fares and effective from February 1st through till April 28, the packages include 7 nights of accommodation andr eturn air fare at the Aussie Resort at Coolangatta for just $373 from Sydney, slightly less for a similar package at Noosa and $574 for 5 nights at the Kõhuna Village Resort overlooking the Whitsunday Islands.

Hopefully bargains like these will be more readily available come deregulation than they have been in the past.