[Peetwo]

UTB tote board heats up at the Senate corral -

(UTB - under the buses)

RRAT news
In the lead up to the Additional Estimates we are still waiting for the official timetable to be released and some outstanding QON to be answered but; in the meantime, there is some other news on the Senate RRAT committee front.

Yesterday in the Senate it was announced that the committee has decided to extend the reporting date for - The operation, regulation and funding of air route service delivery to rural, regional and remote communities - Inquiry: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/sear...%2F0000%22

The Clerk: A notification of extension of time for a committee to report has been lodged in respect of the following:

Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee—Air route service delivery to rural, regional and remote communities—extended from 30 March to 20 September 2018.

                     
I thought this was interesting because when I last looked the submission uptake for this important inquiry was quite disappointing. However on review I was heartened to observe that there is now over 100 submissions and growing - Submissions 

I also noted that one of those submissions was a short 3 page letter from ASA CEO Harfwit...

73 Airservices Australia (PDF 1174 KB)

The part of this short note that intrigued me was the Harfwit's weasel worded bollocks under the heading 'Enhancing efficiency'

Enhancing efficiency

Airservices acknowledges that our service charges for Terminal Navigation, Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighting and Enroute services are part of the costs borne by airlines and operators that fly in and around major regional locations.

For an average regional service flying 800km (e.g between Mildura and Sydney) we charge less than $200 (or $7 per passenger). For a larger aircraft flying a longer haul regional service of 1,300kms (e.g. between Perth and Karratha) we charge approximately $800 (or $10 per passenger).

To minimise the cost burden of our services, we have worked hard over the last few years to improve our business and be more responsive, agile and flexible in delivering value to our customers while maintaining and enhancing our safety performance. This work has enabled us to maintain prices at the same level they were in 2015 and put us in a position to manage price growth into the future.

We are doing this whilst delivering our largest infrastructure project which will replace our core air traffic management system with Defence ('OneSKY program). This program will improve our service capability and deliver a range of economic and safety benefits, including for regional, rural and remote communities. To improve the safety and efficiency of traffic in regional areas we are also investing in new surveillance services across 11 regional locations through the expansion of our Automatic Dependant Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-8) services.

Whilst the cost imposition of meeting safety regulatory requirements at smaller, low traffic ports can unduly burden our regional customers, our price-setting strategy continues to strike a balance between economically efficient prices that enable the cost of our services to be recovered, while minimising undesirable distortions to airport usage.

To address this imbalance we apply cross subsidies whereby charges are levied below the cost of services provision in a number of price sensitive locations including the regions.

Whilst we try to move service charges to fully recover costs, they are no more than an
estimated rate of annual inflation. These subsidies include:
• network enroute subsidies, whereby most regional airport prices (e.g. Albury, Tamworth) are capped and subsidised by charges for enroute services; and
• network based aviation rescue and fire fighting services subsidies (to smaller category 6 aircraft) which reduces the services charge at low traffic volume regional airports (e.g. Ballina, Broome).
• capital city basin subsidies, whereby capital city general aviation airport prices (e .g.
Bankstown) are subsidised by the major airport (Kingsford Smith);

For smaller aircraft operations (weighing less than 5 tonnes) we do not levy aviation rescue and fire fighting charges. If the same aircraft incurs less than $500 in charges per annum for our other services, we also waive our fees.

Our operating environment is strictly governed by legislation and decisions made by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). These constraints limit our ability to choose the level of service we supply at each airport and, also, how we achieve that level of service, which in turn, has a financial and operational impact on our customers. Working closely with CASA, we strive to improve the economic outcomes for our regional customers through regulatory reform. An example of this is our recent work into the Aviation Safety Regulatory Review where we supported a shift to risk-based assessment approach for the establishment and disestablishment of aviation rescue and fire fighting services.

Airservices number one priority continues to be on the safety of our customers.
Nonetheless, we will continue to maintain our focus on our obligation to minimise costs in order to support the growth of industry.

Did you pick the UTB moment -

Of interest I note that the Oz is also monitoring this inquiry and today picked up on the OneSKY waffle in the Harfwit submission:

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OneSKY ‘a boon for bush’
12:00AM
Airservices has declared that the ambitious One­SKY project will benefit bush communities.

Airservices has told the Senate inquiry into regional airfares the rollout of OneSKY, the joint project with the Department of Defence to integrate traffic management systems, would “deliver a range of economic and safety benefits, including for regional, rural and remote communities”.

The submission comes as the Australian National Audit Office has recently found that the project is running almost 2½ years behind schedule. Airservices this week said a contract with French aerospace giant Thales would be signed by the end of next month.

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The Oz has also picked up on another submission from the WA Department of Transport:

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Costs threaten critical services
12:00amANNABEL HEPWORTH

Extending particular airport screening rules could see some ‘critical’ air services abandoned
The Western Australia Department of Transport has warned that extending particular airport screening rules could see some “critical” air services abandoned.

The WA Department of Transport has also told the Senate inquiry into air services to rural, regional and remote areas that potential changes from a federal review of airport security screening “may have an adverse impact on airfares in regional WA”.

The department says that if current arrangements requiring screening passengers on airliners weighing more than 20 tonnes were extended to all regional public air services, “there is a significant likelihood critical air services in WA would be discontinued.”

“This would include air services to Laverton, Leonora, Meekatharra, Mount Magnet, Wiluna, Halls Creek, Kalumburu and Monkey Mia. Most of these routes carry significantly less than 5000 passengers per year,” the submission says. “If this were to occur there would be a major impact on these towns and this would not be an acceptable outcome to these communities.”

Then Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester ordered the Inspector of Transport Security to conduct the review last year.

The department says that if security requirements are tightened, “the cost of implementation and ongoing operation needs to be considered by the commonwealth including what financial assistance is made available to affected regional airports.”

The Australian Airports Association said that if new screening requirements are needed at regional airports, “it needs to be understood this cannot be accommodated without significant financial assistance”.

The association says “significant” cost imposts “in the worst case, may result in cessation of air services linking regional centres, impacting regional economic development”.

The Senate’s Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee, chaired by Liberal National Party senator Barry O’Sullivan, is inquiring into regional airfares.

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TICK TOCK MT & BJ -  


MTF...P2