Regional hub-busting

Not all local regional ratepayers support these plans. Many queried, for example, the upgrading of Ballina and Gladstone to 737 capability, but the successes of those airports are tangible examples of regional air service development where resource industry growth and tourism have been key to those successes. In Gladstone’s case the development of the new liquid natural harbour terminal facilities has added extra impetus to the thriving FIFO scene.

Of course, hub-busting was tried long ago. Butler Air Transport launched Sydney-Toowoomba and other longer runs using Viscounts from nearby Oakey. East West F27s and two smaller King Air operators tried and failed. But now on the back of huge mining growth in the region Toowoomba has recently upgraded its airfield to accommodate Skytrans’ Dash 8-100, offering a far quicker trip to Sydney than via Brisbane.

For longer runs on secondary routes, East West introduced two new purpose-built lighter-weight F27-500s with added centre section tanks. The two aircraft – EWP and EWQ – saw Sydney-Norfolk Island become viable as well as the longer Sydney-Alice Springs sector, both of which were eventually taken over by F28s.

“Of course, hub-busting was tried long ago.”

Sydney-Maroochydore was pioneered by East West F27s, offering a single two and a half hour trip, in the process killing off three small local carriers offering 20 Brisbane feeder flights a day.

Ansett subsidiary Air NSW introduced Sydney-Gladstone, with a one hour and 45 minute sector that beat the three and a half hours it took to fly an F27 to Brisbane and then transfer to a jet for the remaining leg to Sydney. Qantas’s newly-announced Dash 8-400 between Gladstone and Sydney will take two hours 25 minutes against the more than three hours to Brisbane then jet to Sydney.

More recently, direct services between Newcastle, Melbourne and Brisbane saw high-capacity jets kill off 30 small feeder-flights a day into Sydney from four lower Hunter ports. Severe congestion at Brisbane and Sydney would have seen these feeder flights likely ousted anyway.

Those in Port Macquarie pushing for a Melbourne link forget that local operator Oxley started this with Beech 200 King Airs taking two hours 20 minutes, shaving nearly an hour off a typical service via Sydney. Today the region is trying for Virgin Embraer 190s or Qantas Cobham-operated 717s, but will need reasonable loads for either to be viable with neither wanting to lose passengers to the other. For Qantas, the Dash 8-400 cabin is rated ahead of many jet cabins and loses little in time due to its better manoeuvrability in terminal air traffic areas and taxiing.

Port Macquarie-Melbourne is only about five minutes longer than Brisbane-Canberra where Dash 8-400s and jets compete. The -400 gives jets only around 10 minutes’ edge, which is of no consequence on a two hour flight and certainly far quicker than presently via Sydney. Qantas might test demand with its 74-seat cabin or 125-seat 717, but Virgin’s 100-seat E190 fills the 74-125 seat gap Qantas has, as would the new Suhkoi and Bombardier jets, which offer the same capacity.

Of course, if the forecast doubling of passengers occurs, the likelihood of even more ‘thinner’ secondary routes may emerge, adding to the argument for the development of the long-mooted Dash 8-500 or stretched ATR.

But there is a poisoned chalice. Slot starvation at capital city airports will require fewer larger aircraft on main routes to let these inevitable hub-busters in. This demands dispensing with, for example, the nine daily return Embraer 190s operating Brisbane/Sydney when larger 737-800s, A320s or widebody aircraft would be more appropriate.

This time hub-busting must work.