[Peetwo]

With all the ASA squabbling between Dick & Angus etc...etc., plus that disgustingly, condescending, bollocks missive from Skid-Mark, Airport issues have taken a somewhat backward step despite being the subject of a fair amount of media coverage of late.

So backtracking a little...

First there was Camden airport announcing (with very little fan-fair) the release of their Preliminary Draft Master Plan; from Dougy:

Camden Airport draft plan available
23 Jun 2015

Camden Airport Limited has prepared and placed on public exhibition its 2015 Preliminary Draft Master Plan including the Airport Environment Strategy for Camden Airport.

Importantly, the document will retain the fundamental concepts of the current 2010 Master Plan.

The Preliminary Draft Master Plan details the intention to continue to develop Camden Airport to support the growth and expansion of Western Sydney, as well as providing ongoing quality infrastructure to support the general aviation activities in the Sydney basin. 

An important part of the development of the Plan is the public release of the 2015 Preliminary Draft Master Plan (PDMP) including the Airport Environment Strategy for Camden Airport. 

The period of formal public exhibition and consultation on these documents will be 24 June 2015 until 15 September 2015. 

CAL is undertaking wide consultation with the community, making the documents available at three local venues as well as undertaking a letterbox delivery to local residents in the Camden area, primarily affected by the Airport.
 
The document is available electronically on the Camden Airport website.[/url]

Then on Wednesday last week the Airports Amendment Bill 2015 (see above) was debated & subsequently passed without amendment but with some condemnation & dire warnings by Senators Rhiannon & Xenophon:

Which Ben followed up yesterday with this post... :

[url=http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/2015/06/28/xenophon-hits-out-at-2nd-sydney-airport-monopoly-risks/]Xenophon hits out at 2nd Sydney Airport ‘monopoly’ risks

Ben Sandilands | Jun 28, 2015 4:28PM |


Senator Nick Xenophon in his element, unloading on fundamental issues ignored by major parties

One of the disturbing things about Sydney’s much needed second airport at Badgerys Creek is the unwillingness of the major parties to do anything to break the monopoly pricing situation that would arise if it becomes owned by the same interests as the existing airport.

Last week in the Senate Nick Xenophon, the independent Senator for South Australia, refused to be a part of that in no uncertain terms.

He not only spoke about the damage that would be done to the Sydney economy by having both of its major airports controlled by the same interests, but, under privilege, drew attention to claims that the owners of Sydney Airport have paid no tax on an enterprise which has not only abused its pricing power but delivered over $1 billion in ‘fees’ to advisers and financiers.

Given the benefits of privilege being applied to matters the opposition seems incapable of dealing with, and that the coalition government prefers not to address while trying to screw ordinary working people (or voters) . there is below in italics  an extract from the Hansard of Senator Xeonphon’s ignored speech on the second reading of a bill to facilitate the new airport...

...A countervailing view was given by coalition Senator David Fawcett, which can be seen on YouTube here.


Senator Fawcett’s point that the owners of Sydney Airport and other major gateway airports that were privatised by the Howard government have in fact invested well in improving the passenger experience is a reasonable one, unless you are an airline shareholder or a passenger who pays for his or her own parking. Which on reflection, might seem like a lot of voters too.

He also made some critical observations as to how private or local government ownership of regional airports isn’t working as hoped for, leaving many of them struggling to raised the funds to provide essential aviation services including fire fighting at various locations.
We might conclude from this that he is not in favor of a hard nosed approach that could be summarised as ‘Let them burn.’ The issue of upkeep and safety at regional airports is unlikely to ever capture political will in this country until there is a very ugly incident, when their will be a stampede of concerned platitudes from hypocrites on both sides of parliament.

 
Next, on Thursday the NSW Labor leader made another low fanfare announcement in the NSW Parliament, which Oz Flying covered here - Bankstown Airport Problematic: Foley..

NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley has told state parliament that Bankstown Airport will be "problematic" in the future.

In a speech to parliament last night, Foley said that the rise of Western Sydney Airport would create air traffic issues and that the future of Bankstown needed to be considered.
"In future decades, as the new Western Sydney airport grows and becomes the flourishing aviation centre that Western Sydney deserves, airspace requirements will mean that the operation of Bankstown airport will become increasingly problematic," the Hansard recorded.

"Planning and consultation around developing it as an employment centre needs to be initiated now. Part of this process will involve resolving where Bankstown's air traffic will go. Some of it, of course, can be relocated to the new airport.

"The Bankstown site is situated between the M5 and the Hume Highway. With the right planning, investment and infrastructure it can be a major employment zone for jobs of the future in south-western Sydney.

"Our global economic corridor cannot be limited to Sydney's north and east. We must stretch the global arc to Sydney's south and west. It is easy to imagine Bankstown as the next Macquarie Park or Norwest Business Park, full of tens of thousands of high-wage jobs and providing employment opportunities for local people in Sydney's south and west."

Foley's remarks, which come only weeks after the holding company that owns the leases for both Bankstown and Camden, BAC Holdco, was put up for sale, seem to lack a level of credibility given that there has yet to be any suggestion that Western Sydney Airport will carry general aviation

  
..& Hitch later commented on in his weekly wrap...

..Sydney's GA airports have been put in the spotlight this week with the release of the Camden Preliminary Draft Master Plan, then NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley standing up in parliament and saying effectively that Bankstown should be converted into a high-tech business park. Camden's PDMP tells us that there's not a lot planned to change down there because the airport is running well under capacity, and other than the air museum's potential relocation from Bankstown, there's also not a lot on the horizon for non-aviation development either. Of course, the great jumbo in the airspace is Western Sydney Airport. Once you plonk that in the middle of the Sydney basin, things are bound to change everywhere. However, one thing that is unlikely to happen regardless of what Mr Foley says, is the relocation of GA traffic to Western Sydney. I will concede that something will have to happen, but we can assess that when the airport finally opens...

Finally on Friday there was this article from the Oz..

Regional airports ‘lack funds for infrastructure’  

• by: LISA ALLEN
  
• From: The Australian
  
• June 26, 2015 12:00AM
  

Property & Tourism Reporter
Sydney



Pilot Toby Dorn with Blue Sky Airlines’ Jerry Schwartz at Sydney’s Watsons Bay. Source: Supplied

Regional airport owners, particularly cash-strapped local councils, say they have insufficient funds to fix their aviation infrastructure — potentially crippling local tourism and business interests.  

More than 50 per cent of 400 airport owners responding to a survey by the Australian Airports Association in April said the lack of state and commonwealth funding to secure infrastructure upgrades was their biggest problem.

“Many of our smaller regional airports are World War II era and due to financial pressures often a patch-up is done rather than the substantive works required. You can only patch up runways for so long and there are many airports that are now facing ‘end of life’ issues with pavements,” said AAA chief executive Caroline Wilkie.

Without Commonwealth or state funding, regional airports faced an impossible task to upgrade to meet their future needs — particularly runways, taxiways and terminals.

“A case in point is Coober Pedy where without support from the South Australian government they would not have been able to upgrade their runway and would have potentially lost their REX service,” Ms Wilkie said.

The West Australian government has invested in its state airport infrastructure while the NSW government is poised to spend more than $100m.

Despite the funding pledge, one of Australia’s largest private hoteliers, Dr Jerry Schwartz, is deeply concerned about the state of Cessnock Airport, north of Sydney, because it cannot accommodate commercial planes because of poor infrastructure.

Dr Schwartz, who has invested more than $100 million building three hotels in the Hunter Region, including the Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley, estimates that tourism numbers to the region could be lifted by as much as 20 per cent if commercial flights were available from Sydney.

After fruitless discussions with Cessnock Council, which owns Cessnock Airport, Dr Schwartz resorted to buying his own amphibious sea plane, a Lake Sea Fury LA250, to ferry guests from Sydney’s Rose Bay to Cessnock. He plans to charge $250 one way and says if the flights are popular he will start his own airline, to be called Blue Sky Airlines.

“We are more or less launching our own airline. The away around the regulations is to have charter flights, with scheduled flights starting between Rose Bay, Newcastle Harbour and Cessnock Airport from October,” he said.

“To get tourists to areas more than a couple of hours drive from their home you need different forms of transportation. In the Hunter Valley you don’t have trains.
“We are blessed in the Hunter Valley with an airport but unfortunately it is not used because it has not been converted to take scheduled flights.”

However, the Cessnock Council has commissioned an external study and a master plan of the airport.

“It needs fences built around it which would cost $500,000. The second thing is for scheduled flights you need ground staff, and there are no ground staff,” Dr Schwartz said.

“I would say easily an airport would increase tourists by 10-20 per cent because the Hunter Valley would be made more accessible.”

Dr Schwartz said he had spent more than $60m developing a hotel in the Hunter Valley.
“It’s certainly not the core business of local council to finance and open airports. If they have the facilities and knowledge to do it fair enough, but if not they should sell or lease it.’’

However, Cessnock Council’s planning and property manager, Bronwyn Rumble, said the airport was used for tourism-related purposes. “We have a lot of tourism-based aviation like joy flights and scenic helicopter flights. (But) there is currently no regular passenger transport services. That is probably due to our proximity to Newcastle airport, which is about 45 minutes by road.

“If someone approached us and wanted to introduce regular passenger transport we would need to look at the infrastructure that would need to be provided to support that service.

“We are currently undertaking a strategic council review looking at all the council properties and their best use and that includes the airport. We are also developing a master plan for the future development of the airport.”

Meanwhile, the NSW government had nearly doubled the investment allocated to regional airport upgrades in recognition of the significant tourism and services they provide, Regional Development Minister John Barilaro said.

Mr Barilaro said the Regional Tourism Infrastructure Fund would deliver up to $100m for 25 short-listed projects to help grow regional economies in NSW.

“The RTIF projects progressing to the next stage have the greatest potential to make an immediate economic impact and stimulate growth across NSW,” Mr Barilaro said.

The short-listed regional airports include Broken Hill, Lismore and Moree in northern NSW as well as Wagga Wagga and Griffith in southern NSW.

The short-listed regional airport projects will be invited to submit detailed applications by August 31.

Meanwhile, Ms Wilkie said privatisation was an option that some large regional airports were considering.

“But this option has limited application for small regional aerodromes that are running at a loss. The use of private operators has increased over the past five years, but this has predominantly been at airports associated with mines in regional Queensland and regional Western Australia,” she said.

“Ultimately regional access via aerodromes is critical for the ongoing economic success of regional Australia and as such are just as worthy an investment for the commonwealth as roads infrastructure.”

The need for major infrastructure investment remained the main challenge of 22 per cent of small regional airports in the AAA survey and was included among the top three challenges of 51 per cent of small airport respondents.

"..CASA regulations also remained the main issue for large regional airports, with 22 per cent of survey respondents ranking it their top challenge and 61 per cent including it within their top three challenges.."

Security and associated costs were also mentioned by many large regional airports as major issues, and were included in the top three challenges of 51 per cent of respondents.

Staffing, funding, capacity and asset management were also among the main concerns while CASA regulations remained the main issue for small regional airports, with 31 per cent of respondents ranking it their top challenge and 58 per cent including it within their top three challenges.

A further 53 per cent include the cost of compliance within their top three challenges.
Other issues including difficulties retaining staff and the costs and availability of appropriate training. These were also presented as problems particularly for small regional airports.

MTF...P2

Addendum - miniscule's presser on Airports Amendment Bill 2015

Western Sydney airport moves another step closer

Media Release

WT187/2015

25 June 2015



The passage of the Airports Amendment Bill 2015 through parliament overnight brings an airport for Western Sydney another step closer.


Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss said the Bill reflects the Australian Government's commitment to build an airport for Western Sydney.


“The Airports Amendment Bill 2015 will allow key planning documentation to be prepared for Western Sydney Airport in conjunction with the environmental assessment process, which is currently underway,” Mr Truss said.


“The Bill will allow for an airport plan to be developed for Badgerys Creek which will authorise the initial development for a Western Sydney airport and specify the Australian Government's requirements for the proposed airport.


“A finalised airport plan will be dependent on the Environment Minister's assessment of the environmental considerations raised in the environmental impact statement, and will be bound by conditions imposed to protect the environment.


“The Government is committed to undertaking a robust environmental approval process with the opportunity for community consultation.


“The Bill recognises the unique requirements of a greenfield airport by combining separate approval processes that could take years to complete into one streamlined and transparent approval process, while guaranteeing the community's right to be fully consulted.


Mr Truss said the Bill will also ensure that a range of commercial options remain open when it comes to developing a new airport in Western Sydney.


“Under Section 18 of the Airports Act 1996, Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport and Sydney West Airport—as it is known in the Act—must be under common ownership,” Mr Truss said.


“The Airports Amendment Bill will remove this requirement, providing the Australian Government with the commercial flexibility to deal with third parties or develop the airport itself if agreement cannot be reached with Sydney Airport.


“This is supported by the removal of airport cross ownership restrictions on the Sydney West Airport, which will help maximise the success of any market offering should Sydney Airport Group choose not to exercise their option to develop and operate the proposed new airport.”


Mr Truss thanked the Opposition for supporting the measures, and noted the importance of ongoing bipartisanship to the development of an airport for Western Sydney.


The Government is currently undertaking complex and detailed planning towards an operational airport by the mid-2020s that will generate long-term economic benefits, thousands of jobs and meet the needs of Western Sydney's growing population.