[Peetwo]

Aussie airports, DFOs, infrastructure developments and Beijing disconnections??    

"K" -  "..But there’s a moral in there somewhere. Perhaps the new ILS at Mildura provides a hint; if you want something doing.."

Hmm...interesting statement "K", it is interesting to note, in the lead up to the Victorian State election, the following 13 November 2018 media announcement link from the Victorian version of the Liberal/National party coalition:    

Liberal Nationals Encourage Pilot Training

...An ILS is a highly-accurate piece of navigation equipment which guides pilots during landing, meaning poor visibility won’t disrupt air services from Mildura. It is also a vital part of pilot training.

“There are negotiations underway to secure an academy for our community and with the right foundation we’ll be in prime position to seize this new opportunity for Mildura,” Mr Crisp said.
“This investment will ensure Mildura has the right equipment and training facilities for an Academy, which will create new jobs and opportunities to invest in an entirely new sector for Mildura.

“Only The Nationals in government will give Mildura the best chance of securing a Pilot Training Academy for our region, while also making sure more local flights arrive and leave on time.”

As well as the boost to local training opportunities, a Pilot Training Academy will create an estimated 375 ongoing jobs.

Mr Walsh, also the Shadow Minister for Regional Victoria and Decentralisation, said the new ILS delivered on a priority project for the Mildura community.

“Mildura’s a growing regional airport, driving economic development and tourism,” Mr Walsh said.

“Crispy has been lobbying strongly on behalf of the community to secure this investment and The Nationals in government will deliver.”

Also announced today in Mildura was a returned $24 million Regional Aviation Infrastructure Fund to upgrade airports across Regional Victoria, if the Liberal Nationals are elected to government on November 24.

Mr Rich-Phillips said regional airports were a critical connection for country communities.

“A kilometre of road will take you a kilometre. A kilometre of runway can take you anywhere,” Mr Rich-Phillips said.

“Only the Liberal Nationals understand the value of our regional airports. Unlike Labor which abandoned our regional airports, we will work with local communities to help them upgrade these facilities.”

Of course the promise of funding for an ILS at Mildura and for Victorian regional airports was never upheld because Labor remained in power. However this did not mean the Nationals gave up on the proposal and less than five months later, just prior to the Federal election, miniscule McDonaught rocked up to Mildura on a pork barreling crusade to make an announcement that the Federal Govt would be helping fund the construction of an ILS at Mildura?? 

 
Ref: TRANSCRIPT: DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MICHAEL MCCORMACK, THE NATIONALS’ CANDIDATE FOR MALLEE ANNE WEBSTER, CHAIRMAN OF MILDURA AIRPORT PETER O’DONNELL, MAYOR OF MILDURA RURAL CITY COUNCIL SIMON CLEMENCE

Certain parts of the historical transcript have IMO some 'passing strange' disconnections when you consider recent media coverage on Chinese perceived influence, political donations etc. with the current Morrison Govt and Labor party in opposition...  

SIMON CLEMENCE:

Thank you. There's a lot of people have put a lot of work into this over the last couple of years. And I'd like to thank them for their efforts. In particular, Bill Burke, from Mildura Airport. The CEO has done some wonderful work to try and secure this particular facility.

Again, of course, Mr Zheng and his executive team and I've come to know them very well. And some of them are actually resettling here, in Mildura, which is wonderful to see.

If you just have a look at the 30 students here. I just invite you to use your imagination a bit and just double that number of students. And that's 60 and then multiply that, double by 10 and that's 600. And you imagine what that would look like. And that's how many students we're hoping to be able to train here each year, which is remarkable.

And when you look at the financial impacts of that, it's estimated that each of these student pilots will bring between $75,000 and $90,000 into the economy. If you look at that figure of 600. Multiply that out and you've got between 45 and $90 million dollars coming into this economy. And when you add to that the $40 million that's already been spent by Mr Zheng in setting this up, just in the first year alone, that's a $100 million dollars.

Now we fight and bite and scratch over a stadium for 26, 28 million dollars of funding, and we've already got an investment here now, today, secured today by this ILS system worth a $100 million. And that will continue at the rate of 45 to 60 million dollars every year ongoing.

And my understanding is the Chinese currently need something like 6,000 pilots and of course, as those positions are filled, there will be more pilots required as others retire or go elsewhere.

And so, this is obviously is going to be a long term investment in this town. It's going to go for decades. And so, I congratulate the government for this $2 million investment. And of course, I thank them. This investment actually secured this school. Without it, it could well have folded. But the deal's done now.

Obviously the Council still have to stump up a million dollars and there's nine Councillors have to vote on that, but I'm fairly confident that we'll manage to get that through.

And also, of course, thank you to the airport for putting in a million of their own. So once again, thank you all. You need to look at this as probably the biggest investment in Mildura's future that has been ever. And I'm sure it's going to make a big difference to this town. Thank you very much, cheers

That's some serious injection of Beijing backed money into the local Mildura district economy...

Also note who was in attendance:

...Yep. That's wonderful to have Mr Zheng here. We haven't had you here for any of the announcements and we're very pleased to have you here today and for your commitment to our region. William Cheng, representing the company as well. Guy Pearson, who's the CEO of International Aviation Alliance. We're also very pleased to have Mr Liu here from China Eastern today especially.

I’d like to welcome Anne Webster, The Nationals’ Candidate for Mallee, also Serge Petrovitch, the Liberal Candidate for Mallee. A particular warm welcome to Tony Matthews, who's the chair of CASA here. We're very pleased to have a wonderful person like Tony, not only a Mildura person, but represents such an important association in Australian aviation...

While on airports I note the following short blog piece, courtesy of infrastructuremagazine.com.au, which seems to indicate that the latest amended CASR Part 139 MOS will enhance our compliance with ICAO Annex 14 - WTD? 

New standards for Australian aerodromes

Kim Ho, September 10, 2019, Airport, Asset Management, News, Policy, Regional, Safety, Standards,0 

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has released new safety requirements for aerodromes of all sizes across Australia.

The updates reflect changes in technology and best practice, and ensures Australia enhances its level of compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.

The new measures are detailed in CASA’s updated Manual of Standards (MOS) Part 139.

The updates have drawn praise from the Australian Airports Association (AAA).

AAA Chief Executive Officer, Caroline Wilkie, said the review of MOS Part 139 was important to ensure airports are able to reasonably and practically meet required safety standards.

“Since 2014, the AAA has been closely involved in the Post Implementation Review of the MOS Part 139 for aerodromes and I would like to take this opportunity to thank CASA for their ongoing commitment to consultation and collaboration with industry throughout this process,” Ms Wilkie said.

Both CASA and the AAA are supporting industry through the transition to the new rules and a range of guidance material and templates are currently under development.

Once available, this material will provide support for aerodrome operators to develop or update any required documentation.

“The AAA will continue to work collaboratively with CASA to ensure our members remain informed of the key changes associated with the new standards and regulations, as well as the development of essential guidance material,” Ms Wilkie said.

Ms Wilkie also thanked the many industry members who were key to making the MOS 139 project a success, in particular Sydney Airport’s Ken Allcott, Cairns Airport’s Steve Willis, Northern Territory Airports’ Bob Calaby, Adelaide Airport’s Brett Eaton, ABD Safegate’s Jimmy Maitland, Airports Plus’ Tom Griffiths, University of the Sunshine Coast’s Greg White, Airport Lighting Services’ Mike Fisher and Australian Airport Pilots’ Association’s Brian Greeves.

A transition period for the revised rules will be provided from August 2020-2022.

To find out more about the rules and read the Part 139 change summary visit www.casa.gov.au.

Yet there the Essendon DFO (still) sits...  

 

Ref: Airports - Buy two, get one free.


MTF...P2