[Peetwo]

Jandakot Airport to be sold?? 

Via the AFR: https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/...827-p58mjt

Property giant Dexus is in exclusive talks to buy Jandakot Airport and the Jandakot City industrial estate in Perth from Ascot Capital and 89-year-old southern African billionaire Nathan Kirsh for more than $1 billion.

Multiple sources have confirmed that talks are well advanced with a deal potentially on the verge of being done, but neither party would comment when contacted.

And from AOPA Oz, via Facebook:

$1 BILLION SALE OF JANDAKOT AIRPORT LOOMING

ASX listed property goliath Dexus is reportedly in the final stages of a $1 billion acquisition of Jandakot Airport in Western Australia, with sources confirming the sale of the 622-hectare airport to be well advanced on a party to party basis.

Dexus is Australia’s largest office landlord with a commercial property portfolio in excess of $14 billion, with the $1 billion airport acquisition considered a diversification.

Since privatisation, some 200-hectares of airport land (branded ‘Jandakot City’) have been developed for non-aviation purposes, with a focus on large-scale warehousing and distribution facilities to major companies, such as Halliburton, General Electric, Kmart and Grays Online.  These companies hold leases on the airport land on terms of up to 25 years.

The current leaseholder of Jandakot Airport has advertised via its website that there is a further 80-hectares of non-aviation lettable area at the airport site.

“The privatisation of Australia’s airports has become an unmitigated disaster for the nation’s general aviation industry, with small to medium sized businesses forced out in preference for large-scale non-aviation commercial warehousing and distribution centres.”  Benjamin Morgan, AOPA Australia CEO.

“We have greedy property developers running our nation’s critical aviation infrastructure and its heading for disaster.

“They’ve driven up the cost of access to record levels and have shown themselves to have no qualms with bankrupting our industry in the pursuit of even higher profits.

"The privatisation of airports was supposed to bring about investment in aviation!  Where is it?  Aviation has suffered catastrophically as a result of privatisation, with the only beneficiaries the property developers - it's insane!

“General aviation users are continually told they cannot access property leases of up to 25 years, and are forced to accept outrageous increases in leasehold values, along with lease-terms that larger corporate leaseholders would laugh at.

"Meanwhile, the big-end of town gets looked after and the little guys get screwed.

“The failure of government to reign in the greed of these developers has created an environment where airport leaseholders are running rough-shot over small to medium sized business, comfortable that nobody will hold them to account.

“And, should they succeed in bankrupting our small to medium sized aviation businesses, they win again.  No doubt ready to re-develop the remaining aviation land into more warehouses and distribution centres.

“Where the hell are our political leaders?  Where is the Department of Infrastructure?

"Will the bloody government wake the hell up, this is ridiculous. " he said.

Go to the Facebook post link - HERE - to review the many damning comments.

Also from AOPA Oz:

AOPA AUSTRALIA CALLS FOR DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER TO REJECT DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE PROPOSAL THAT WOULD HAND PROPERTY DEVELOPERS A FREE FOR ALL AT AIRPORTS
August 30, 2021 By Benjamin Morgan


The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia has called on the Deputy Prime Minister, The Hon Barnaby Joyce MP, to reject a proposal by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, seeking to increase the threshold for Major Development Plans from $25 to $35 million.

Under the Airports Act 1996, all leased federal airports, excluding Mount Isa and Tennant Creek, are required to develop and submit Major Development Plans (MDP) for specific types of development, if they exceed the monetary threshold amount specified in Section 89(9) of the Act.  The threshold is currently set at $25 million.

The Department claims the increase is required to account for inflation and construction cost increases at airports, seeking a threshold increase to $35 million.  However, it is understood that the Department has been heavily lobbied by the privatised airports community, who claim the increases are needed for their COVID-19 recovery.

“AOPA Australia firmly opposes the proposal put forward by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, and calls for its immediate withdrawal,” Benjamin Morgan, AOPA Australia CEO.

“The proposal seeks to dramatically reduce the oversight and scrutiny of developments at privatised airports, handing developers greater powers to convert airport land into non-aviation use without any government oversight or approval.

“History has shown that developers game the existing system, bypassing requirements for non-aviation development to be reviewed and approved by the Minister, by structuring projects under the current $25 million threshold.  An increase to $35 million, simply opens the system up to greater manipulation by developers.

“Instead of watering down regulations to benefit property developers, the Department should be putting forward a proposal to reduce the minimum requirement, seeking to strengthen oversight of non-aviation development at privatised airports.

“Greater oversight is what is needed, not less.

“The leaseholders of Australia’s privatised airports are some of the nation’s wealthiest property development and management corporations, with asset portfolios into the many billions and operating profits that run well into the hundreds of millions.

“It’s incomprehensible that the Department is seeking to hand these corporations a development free-for-all, at the expense of hard working small to medium sized aviation businesses.  I am certain my industry colleagues and every participant of our aviation industry would agree with this assessment.

“AOPA Australia has written to the Deputy Prime Minister, The Hon Barnaby Joyce MP, seeking his urgent assistance in rejecting the proposal.

“I am encouraging all aircraft owners, pilots, aviation businesses and supporters to write a letter to the Deputy Prime Minister, clearly opposing the proposal and seeking its rejection.”

Please direct your written correspondence to:
The Hon Barnaby Joyce MP
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport,
Regional Development and Communications
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

MEDIA CONTACT
Mr Benjamin Morgan
AOPA Australia Chief Executive
Mobile: 0415 577 724
Email:  ben.morgan@aopa.com.au

MTF...P2