Recce

Further south is where the major problem could lie. As this year closes it appears blindingly real that Essendon is on short finals. Even the pro-business State Government is fairly bullish about closing Essendon and turning it into a high value housing estate. Local council and State and Federal Government reasoning is based on the major operators being able to relocate to nearby Tullamarine whilst the smaller fry simply drift off elsewhere, possibly to a revitalised Point Cook. Life of course is not that simple. On the surface the bureaucrats’ argument for closing Essendon has some logic. In reality though it misses the point that most of these businesses simply could not absorb the financial cost of relocating to another airport. If you run a small flying school and charter operation at Essendon and move it to Point Cook or Moorabbin, would you honestly expect to maintain the level of patronage you had at Essendon? Of course not, and on top of that you would have to pay a considerable premium for the relocation. A new hangar and admin area has to be built along with support facilities whilst some employees would leave as their new workplace suddenly became geographically distant from where they live.

Point Cook could well become a major General Aviation facility if Essendon closes though it is arguable whether too many of Essendon’s existing small operators would survive the enforced change of address. Various reports place the cost of closing Essendon at around $60-80m. However, many of the airport’s tenants have stated that they would be prepared to take a class action suit against whoever attempts this. Working on commission, a spirited and dollar motivated law firm would have a field day with this one. The total bill could thus double as the amount of cost/damage to each business is generally considered to have been grossly underestimated by the bureaucrats tasked with valuing the existing Essendon operations.

Nobody knows for sure what Essendon’s future will be and sadly it has been that way for nearly a decade. You would however have to be an extreme optimist though to really think that in 10 years time Essendon would remain as an operational airport. To the west, even Adelaide’s Parafield is suffering from the inroads of urban development whilst Jandakot south of Perth will inevitably follow suit with the passing of time. At least these cities, and even Melbourne to an extent, have the relative luxury of suitable geography that allows an airport to be built within an hour’s drive of the city. Sydney certainly doesn’t have this luxury and never will. The ever increasing cost of recreational GA flying, the eventual closure of more and more small airports and the growing aviation bureaucracy all will inevitably damage the future of GA in this country. For many it will be a matter of having to live beyond the fringes of our largest cities if you want to fly a light aircraft for pleasure. And that is a tragedy.

Go, Kiwi Go!

It’s great to see a new entrant airline success story amongst a sea of high profile failures in recent years and our hearty congratulations go to the hard working and innovative crew at Kiwi Travel International Airlines. (Check our Airline Affairs section for some exciting late breaking news.)

Apart from suggesting that they get a shorter name, Kiwi (which we will call it from now on) has tapped a rich vein of traffic that Ansett, Air New Zealand and Qantas have perennially dismissed as irrelevant. Kiwi has shown that you can fly from a secondary port in New Zealand to Australia and win passenger support. The reverse would well be true if somebody over this side of the Tasman had the initiative to do likewise.

As this issue closed for press, Kiwi was already upping its fares to increase its yield and ensure longer term profitability—a smart and appropriate move. With load factors regularly topping 90% it is a success story that hopefully won’t be undermined by the majors suddenly muscling in to fly similar routes just to squeeze the new entrant out. Inevitably the management of the big three must be looking at Kiwi as an ‘enemy’. What a shame they don’t think a few seconds longer and consider the tiny airline as an ‘example’ instead. Good one Kiwi, long may you fly.