[Peetwo]

The aviation divide between the cities & the bush continues -

Courtesy of Matt O'Sullivan via the SMH:

MARCH 20 2017 - 4:44AM


Ministers butt heads over greater access to Sydney Airport for regional planes

 

• [/url]Matt O'Sullivan
  

NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance is locked in a standoff with the Turnbull government over relaxing a cap for regional aircraft at Sydney Airport during peak hours, accusing Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce of "being completely obstinate".

In an escalation of his tussle with Canberra, Mr Constance said NSW was spending $100 million on upgrading regional airports yet the federal government was unwilling to follow suit to improve air services to towns in the bush by amending legislation.

He wants the federal government to alter the Sydney Airport Demand Management Act to allow for extra slots to be set aside for regional aircraft.
A state parliamentary inquiry recommended more than two years ago for the federal government to [url=http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-airport-aircraft-cap-curbs-flights-to-regional-nsw-towns-pushes-up-fares-20161011-grzxr0.html]improve access to Australia's busiest airport for regional planes by relaxing the cap on landings or takeoffs for small, turboprop aircraft.

Mr Constance, the Liberal MP for Bega in NSW's south-east, said Mr Joyce had been obstinate on the issue and was "completely and utterly out of touch on what is required to drive regional aviation opportunities".

"All Canberra have to do is amend the Sydney Airport Management Act and give those additional slots and it will be really beneficial. Barnaby Joyce quite frankly has his head in the sand," he said.

But Mr Joyce, the federal Agriculture and Water Resources Minister, hit back at his state colleague, saying Mr Constance would "do well to realise" that his ministry had no oversight of the laws governing aircraft slots at Sydney Airport.

"I've not received a word from this person, not a letter, not so much as a phone call – in fact, I wouldn't know him if he stood up in my cornflakes," he said.HARE

The state government wants greater access for regional planes at Sydney Airport. Photo: AP

The latest barbs come several weeks after the pair traded blows on the issue over local radio.

Mr Constance has shown a willingness to prod the Turnbull government and last week called for it to be "brave and get on with some real reform" on matters such as housing affordability, industrial relations and tax.ARE

NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance wants the federal government to alter legislation to allow for more access to Sydney airport for regional aircraft. Photo: Brook Mitchell

Federal Transport Minister Darren Chester said the government was willing to consider proposals to amend aspects of the slot arrangements at Sydney Airport but it was also committed to protecting the community against aircraft noise.

"If the NSW ministers think they have answers to the complex legislative arrangements concerning Sydney Airport traffic, I'm happy to work with them," he said.ARE

Obstinate: NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance says Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce (pictured) is out of touch on the issue of regional aircraft. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Virgin Australia has been the strongest proponent of a relaxation of the cap at Sydney Airport for regional planes during peak hours, arguing its ability to boost services to Tamworth or launch new routes to Dubbo and Wagga Wagga has been thwarted.

Virgin chief executive John Borghetti said significant benefits for regional NSW could be realised through simple changes to the legislation regarding slots at Sydney Airport.ARE

Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti says "significant benefits" could be realised from simple amendments. Photo: Barry Smith
"It is regrettable for the federal government to suggest that enhanced air access and competition for regional NSW is effectively closed until Western Sydney Airport is opened in a decade's time," he said.

However, any increase to the movement cap will be highly contentious in Sydney's inner-city suburbs located under flight paths.

This subject and article was extrapolated by Planetalking... :

[b]Only another nine years of country flight fights for Sydney Airport
[/b]
[i]Screw the bush and their little planes! Another excellent result of selling essential public assets like airports to private monopolies[/i]

Although obscured, this REX 340 has both props attached

The bickering about rural flight access to Sydney Airport has flared up again, and if long suffering country travellers are lucky, it might end as soon as 2026 when the harbour city gets a new airport at Badgerys Creek in its west.

Then again… One of the problems of access to airports under any sort of enterprising management is the pressure to sweat the asset and fly the largest possible aircraft for every precious slot, and to hell with the consequences.

This report in the Sydney Morning Herald has caught the main combatants at their candid best today, but the debate has flared regularly, using ministers and spokespersons past, even before Sydney Airport was privatised in 2002.

There was for example, a period when regional carriers Kendell and Hazelton were in play following the collapse of Ansett, when they were at risk of being bought by a major airline like Qantas and having their access to the country’s major airport converted into more interstate jet flights.

Kendell and Hazelton were instead consolidated into REX, a mostly highly profitable country wide rural operation which is currently in the news for managing to lose a propellor off one of its SAAB 340 turprops on approach to Sydney Airport last week.

The formation and survival of REX has probably saved countless country lives from becoming part of the road toll by offering economic time saving alternatives to lousy highways in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland as well as NSW, but REX might need to pay more attention, pending an ATSB investigation, to the vital connection between propellers and wings.

The brawl going on over rural flights access to Sydney is one that is also of increasing relevance to Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide airports, although in Melbourne, some regional services are trying to make a go out of flying to Essendon, just down the highway where all those DFO shopping billboards are found.

If you live in the country, or need to fly there, the large airports will try to screw you out of your tiny little annoying turboprops so that they can make more money out of bigger aircraft. It’s business. That why the Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, is there plugging the interests of big money (and big gas)  instead of the farmers because that’s his shtick.

Minister Constance’s departure from the song sheets when it comes to governments backing businesses over the interests of consumers is fascinating. But will it end well?

[i]Postscript[/i]: By the time Badgerys Creek is transformed into Sydney West the upscaling of rural services will become more apparent. By 2026 the likes of Coffs Harbour, Albury, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo and Port Macquarie, and many other country centres, will have seen tentative jet services become the norm, and jets the size of A320s or 737 will likely be taking on possible larger versions of today’s turboprops on shorter routes

MTF...P2