Under pressure

Some elements of the media have taken this to suggest that with the right ground transport, Williamtown could effectively become an alternative for airlines seeking to serve the Sydney basin, although this perception has been challenged by a number of parties, including Newcastle Airport Limited.

While the New South Wales government has endorsed the idea of expanding Williamtown to handle international flights and put forward the case in a submission to the aviation white paper, the suggestion has not been met with such enthusiasm in other quarters. Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, who is also the federal member for Hunter, said publicly in late June that he “welcomed debate on an international airport in the Hunter region, but not at RAAF Williamtown. ” And at Airservices Australia’s Waypoint conference in June, now Deputy Chief of Air Force (DCAF) Air Vice Marshal Geoff Brown explained that any further commercial expansion, let alone more international services, would compromise the RAAF’s ability to use Williamtown as a strategic base.

While not on the frontline of a possible invasion from the north, Williamtown was established to protect the northern and eastern flanks of the strategic port facilities and industrial areas of the Hunter and Sydney regions, and is well positioned to support security operations along the most populous region of Australia between Newcastle and Canberra, covering nearly a third of the country’s population.

Recent events such as the World Youth Day, the 2007 APEC meeting, other visits by heads of state, the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and the 2000 Sydney Olympics were security-intensive gatherings, all of which required ADF support, and some of which included combat air patrols flown by RAAF F/A-18s based at Williamtown.

But unlike other bases which may have questionable futures, Williamtown’s operational tempo is only likely to increase in the future.

The base is home to Air Combat Group (ACG) and many of its subordinate units

“I believe that we are rapidly approaching the point where the airfield will be incapable of absorbing additional commercial operations. ”

comprising 78WG with 2OCU (F/A-18A/B Hornet), 76SQN (Hawk 127) and the Forward Air Control Development Unit (FACDU – PC-9/A); and 81WG with 3 and 77SQNs (both Hornets). Surveillance & Response Group (SRG) and its subordinate units 42WG with 2SQN (Wedgetail AEW&C), 3CRU (ground based radar) and the Surveillance and Control Training Unit (SCTU) are also based at Williamtown, as is the Eastern Region Operations Centre (EASTROC), a key element in Australia’s ground based air defence command structure.

Huge amounts in capital investment have been poured into the base in recent years to upgrade it for current and future capabilities, both in terms of aeronautical infrastructure and support buildings including a new hangar, ramp area, administration buildings, and accommodation for current and future personnel.

Williamtown is also expected to be the primary base for the RAAF’s next air combat capability, expected to be the F-35 JSF, alongside Amberley near Brisbane and Tindal in the Northern Territory. This will require further infrastructure investment in training and maintenance facilities in order to support the F-35 fleet at Williamtown.

But while Williamtown is likely to face an increased military role, it has also become one of the fastest growing airports in the country, and has been a focus of much of the capacity growth by low cost airlines since 2003.

Passenger numbers through Newcastle have quadrupled over the last five years, and in 2007/08 the airport handled over one million passengers for the first time.

This has largely been due to the presence of Jetstar and Virgin Blue, which operate their Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s respectively to and from a number of ports on the east coast.

Jetstar also has Newcastle as its national heavy maintenance base for its Airbus A320/321 fleet, at a facility which was originally built for Impulse Airlines before it was taken over by Qantas in 2001.

Newcastle Airports Limited (NAL), which holds a lease on the land in the terminal precinct, has recently completed an upgrade to its tarmac to allow it to park up to six aircraft, including a Code E apron capable of accommodating widebodies up to A330 size.

And while NAL CEO Paul Hughes rejects the notion that Williamtown would become a ‘second Kingsford-Smith’, which would catch passengers from the Sydney basin, he does believe that with the right infrastructure in place that it could become a legitimate, albeit smaller, international airport.

Even so, there has been some concern within the RAAF that any more commercial growth is likely to compromise its ability to run as a frontline Defence base.

Sharing the base

AVM Brown raised some major concerns about the commercial agenda at Williamtown while addressing Waypoint, with his overall view being that there needed to be more consideration of RAAF operational requirements before any major expansion of the airport.

There is a “need to strike the right balance between commercial interests and the ability of Air Force to do its job,” he told the conference.

“How we address these issues will, inNAL has highlighted that it would like to increase the movements cap to eight an hour. It has also been discussing extending the airport’s operating hours to 2300 with the RAAF

. no small way, have a long term influence on our ability to successfully deliver on the expectations of government with respect to the maintenance of an efficient and effective war-fighting force. ” That balance includes the airspace near the base, including the R595 military airspace sector off the coast which is used for air combat manoeuvring training but also straddles some of the most efficient air routes out of Sydney for airliners bound for the US west coast. AVM Brown described an airspace trial conducted last year to open up R595 to commercial traffic as a “mixed success”, adding that both the RAAF and commercial sides of the trial reported frustrations with several elements of it. Consequently, the ADF will soon call for submissions on how to better manage the airspace.

But the major thrust of AVM Brown’s speech was on the challenge of managing commercial concessions at RAAF facilities, particularly at Williamtown.

“These concessions are tolerable at the moment, but there are signs that the commercial imperative will induce demand for greater concessions in the future,” he said.

“Williamtown is a Defence base, established for Defence operations.

In its present state, like any other airfield, it has a finite capacity and I believe that we are rapidly approaching the point where the airfield will be incapable of absorbing additional commercial operations. ” AVM Brown noted that the RAAF has already made what it sees as significant concessions in order to accommodate increasing commercial operations at Williamtown, including recently extending the hours of air traffic control coverage it provided for commercial operations. “This included the significant impost of providing these services during our period of operational standby over the last Christmas/New Year break. There was also the knock-on effect on the technical workforce, and other support services, which had to be stretched accordingly. We have also had to compromise, over recent years, on some of our ordnance handling procedures to ensure that the safety of civil operations is not endangered. ” During some exercise periods for which live ordnance is used, the RAAF enforces a displaced threshold at Williamtown in order to keep commercial traffic away from the ordnance loading areas at the northern end of the runway. Depending on the winds, this occasionally means only turboprop aircraft such QantasLink Dash 8s, or Aeropelican or Brindabella Jetstreams can use the runway, although the airport says that this is relatively rare.

At the 2007 Waypoint conference, then Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Shepherd talked about a concept of “shared inconvenience” between civil and military operations on a broader scale. “I firmly believe we have met that intent with respect to Williamtown,” said AVM Brown.

“However, our capacity to do more under the current circumstances is limited and the time is fast approaching where commercial interests will need to temper their expectations. ” In particular, AVM Brown pointed to the expectations of the O’Neill report that Newcastle be used as an alternative international gateway to Sydney, and which also canvassed the prospect of building a second runway at Williamtown to facilitate this. But the question of a second runway at Williamtown, which would likely open it up for more commercial movements and ease the “shared inconvenience”, was an issue for governments to address, AVM Brown said.

“While the report, as we understand it, canvasses the need for a second runway, little consideration seems to have been given to the impact that any redevelopment may have on our operations,” he noted. “We have also seen an escalating number of requests from existing commercial operators to expand the current operational window, which allows for civil movements between 0600 and 2200, to cater for earlier departures and later arrivals.

While the aspiration to gain greater access may make business sense, it nonetheless highlights the basic conflict between the commercial and the military imperative. At some stage, an acceptable balance must be struck and there must be a wider realisation than appears to exist at present that access cannot be unfettered. ” “I have no doubt that Williamtown could handle additional traffic if a proposed second runway and necessary terminal infrastructure were to be developed,” he added. “However, this is an issue for government and before any such decision is made, there will need to be a thorough examination of the potential impacts that such a development would have on our operations – not just on the ground, but also in the air. As an example, if Williamtown was to become a major international airport, what expectations would this generate with respect to the development of inbound and outbound air routes, which would necessarily be through the very areas where we conduct most of our training? I am of the opinion that such an outcome would severely debilitate our capacity to train and, by extension, have a wholly unacceptable and deleterious affect on our operational capability as an Air Force. ”

Growing civil operations

While Williamtown has hosted some civil flying since the 1940s, it was not until a 30 year lease agreement between By and large Williamtown is a defence base. (AC Mark Friend RAAF)Defence and Newcastle Airports Limited – which is itself a joint venture between the Port Stephens and Newcastle councils – was signed in 1994 that the airfield gained its own privately operated terminal.

That initial lease was subsequently extended to 2045, mostly out of recognition that with the redevelopment of the Belmont aerodrome that Williamtown represented the only air access to the Hunter region.

Today, the airport is a major centre of operations for Jetstar, which now operates eight services a day from Sydney, Melbourne, the Gold Coast and Brisbane into Newcastle. Virgin Blue has also opened a number of routes, while Tiger was due to cease flying its shortlived daily Melbourne to Newcastle service in August. Norfolk Air also operates a weekly leased 737 service to Norfolk Island.

There has also been significant regional growth, with local carrier Aeropelican growing and upgrading its services on the Newcastle-Sydney route with Jetstream 32s, and also branching out into Newcastle-Tamworth, while Canberra based Brindabella Airlines operates services from Canberra and Port Macquarie to Newcastle using Metros and Jetstream 41s.

In its 2007 Master Plan, the airport projected it would be handling three million passengers annually by 2020. In that report, it claimed that even with a tripling of passenger numbers, it would not adversely affect Air Force operations at the airfield, a view which was at the time endorsed by Defence.

But that growth in commercial services has not been without constraints.

The RAAF currently limits commercial movements at the airport to six an hour, with these only conducted between 0600 and 2200 as this is the time the RAAF provides air traffic control. The base commander also has the discretion to impose operational limits on the airfield at any time.

“From our point of view that has worked quite well,” Paul Hughes told Australian Aviation. “The biggest constraint we’ve had to date hasn’t really been the constraints in terms of accessing the runway; our apron capacity has been a problem for us. ” Previously, “we could handle no more than an absolute maximum of six aircraft per hour anyway across our apron,” he added. “Now with the completion of our Code E parking area this year, which we completed in April, that really has removed that constraint. We could probably now handle about eight aircraft per hour, that’s obviously given some movement to improve. ” In its submission to the to the aviation white paper process, NAL has highlighted that it would like to increase the movements cap to eight an hour. It has also been discussing this and the issue of extending the airport’s operating hours to 2300 with the RAAF.

“We’re now under discussions with the Deputy Chief of Air Force and his officers at Air Force Headquarters to look at those constraints again and see how realistic they are for the future. That will also take into account not only our issues, but their needs as well,” said Hughes.

But Hughes insists that the airport will still be able to handle the growth projected under its existing arrangements.

“We see that we can probably do maybe three to four million passengers, and when you test that against our existing constraints, that’s still achievable,” he said.

Hughes believes that this was more the intention of the O’Neill report’s recommendation, that Newcastle be expanded to handle more international flying. In this sense, as a smaller airport, Williamtown could play a role in attracting services to and from Asia and New Zealand, and assist in boosting the New South Wales tourism industry.

Nevertheless, Hughes is quick to dismiss the suggestion that Williamtown could become Sydney’s second airport, and has interpreted AVM Brown’s comments as reacting to this perception.

“My reading was more that the DCAF was pushing back against people who are jumping to conclusions saying that this is going to be Sydney’s second major airport,” he explained. “That’s an ill-defined statement and that becomes a political argument between the New South Wales government and the federal government. We’re not even entertaining those sorts of things. We’re more focusing on how we’re going to attract more destinations for that 1. 2 million people catchment [in the Hunter and Central Coast regions]. ”

Other joint facilities

Williamtown is by no means the only joint user RAAF base/commercial airport, although it seems to be the only one where both military and civilian operations are both projected to grow strongly over the coming years.

Townsville and Darwin International Airports are also located on operationalRAAF bases, where the airport terminals are run by commercial concerns.

The RAAF also still maintains a presence at the privately owned Canberra International Airport.

At Townsville, the base is home to the Army’s 5 Aviation Regiment and its Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters, plus the RAAF’s 38SQN which operates the venerable Caribou tactical transport. But with the Army’s helicopters not needing the runway facilities for their operations, the base doesn’t have the year round, high tempo operational imperatives of Williamtown.

Although there are occasional fast jet deployments to Townsville from Williamtown and Amberley, these tend to work around commercial operations, although there are occasional live ordnance issues which are addressed during these deployments.

RAAF Darwin meanwhile does not have a permanent aircraft operating unit deployed there, and the base is primarily used as a staging point for combat or transport aircraft deploying north or returning south, or as a forward base for regular AP-3C Orion patrols in support of border protection operations in the north. Thus, there is little conflict with commercial operations.

Regular military movements at Canberra are now basically limited to just the VIP fleet of 34SQN’s two 737BBJs and three Challenger 604 jets based there, although there are ad hoc visits by other transport assets including C-130s from Richmond which are serviced on site by Qantas Defence Services. Consequently, as the RAAF is a tenant on a commercial airport and not the other way around, it also doesn’t produce the same issues as Williamtown.

Another interesting dynamic applies at RAAF Richmond northwest of Sydney. Purely a RAAF base with no commercial operations, today it remains home to the 24 C-130s of 37SQN (following the retirement of the last 707 tanker on June 30 and the transfer of 33SQN to Amberley), but there has long been a debate about the future of the airport as a RAAF base. Over the years there have been suggestions that the RAAF might move its Hercules north to Amberley or Townsville to better support Army operations, and there have also been intermittent calls to consider using Richmond as Sydney’s second airport site. Indeed, only in early July did the neighbouring Baulkham Hills Shire Council call to establish commercial RPT operations at the base. Somewhat ironically, it has used Williamtown as a model for these joint operations.

But Richmond presents it own set of issues which would make it difficult to upgrade to a commercial standard.

While there is now plenty of spare movement capacity at Richmond, the base’s runway 28/10 is a relatively short 2100m in length, meaning many airliners or freighters would be payload restricted, while high ground and housing to the east and encroaching housing and light industry to the west would prevent an extension to the runway.

Options for a second and longer north-south axis runway of about 4200m in length have been presented in recent years, for which there is much less infrastructure to be overcome in the form of reasonably flat farm land to the north, and relatively open land including the Clarendon Racecourse and the University of Western Sydney agricultural studies campus to the south.

Shared inconvenience, shared benefit

As the Hunter Economic Development Corporation recently said in its own submission to the national aviation white paper, it is in the best interests of the Hunter region to have both a strong civilian airport and an operational frontline RAAF base.

While AVM Brown has expressed concern about the airport and its airline customers’ intentions of sharing the burdens of operating from Williamtown, Hughes insists that the airport will be able to continue growing without having to change the status quo, which sees both the RAAF and NAL share the burdens of operating from Williamtown.

Some longer term resolution and comfort for both sides may lie in both the Defence and aviation white papers, particularly if the government has the capital and the will to invest in more infrastructure, such as a second runway at Williamtown.

Such investment would likely reduce the shared inconvenience, and should ensure that there is shared benefit for both the RAAF and civil operations at Williamtown, and that the wider benefits for the Hunter region from both a strong military and commercial aviation operation will continue.