White Paper leads to new blueprint?

As I have said before, the government is acknowledged for announcing early in 2008 that it will develop this country’s first national aviation policy. Hundreds of submissions have been received full of the experience and thoughts of people who have spent most of their working life in aviation. While it is not the government’s role to run the industry it can design the policy settings that will encourage the industry to thrive, domestically and internationally. China and India are well within our trading sphere and both are displaying a keen interest in expanding their civil aviation sector. Demand will grow eventually for new engineers, flight crew, cabin crew, airframes, engines, avionics, fuels, airport construction and management. If we are ready, the Australian industry can be a serious player in satisfying this demand. Even if we are ready, there are already a significant number of countries producing high quality aviation products. This competition should not frighten but encourage us.
The worst case scenario is that the White Paper concentrates on the major carriers and airports only and does not analyse industry opportunity across the full spectrum. If the paper is a dud, and I sincerely hope that it won’t be given the input and the cost to the taxpayer, the industry is likely to lose all faith in government engagement and partnership. If government encourages aviation development and expansion in the same way as road, rail and sea we may see the start of a new era.
Another issue that the RAAA will be tracking closely is any potential change to the Carriage by Air Act in relation to passenger compensation. While the unlimited liability regime applies to international carriage under the Montreal Convention, such limits applied domestically would be devastating for regional carriers. Many operators are just making ends meet and cannot tolerate any further financial pressure.
If the tentative stability emerging in some financial markets is not a dead cat bounce the aviation industry could be 12-18 months way from the next growth period. Some in the industry quite reasonably believe it is a little early to make further large investments, particularly on borrowed money. However now is the time to have clear, detailed plans in place to cope with pent up demand once the large Asian economies re-emerge from hibernation. Let’s hope that the White Paper writers have a similar view and will provide the incentives to relaunch the Australian industry.