[Peetwo]

DPM McNobody signs up for PC WOFTAM inquiry on airports - FDS! 

Via the Oz today:

Inquiry into economic regulation of airport services
The Australian-13 hours ago
Debate over airport regulation is set to take off as the government today ... Commission inquiry into the economic regulation of airport services.

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"..is due to report to Government within 12 months..."  - Perfectly timed so as to be politically nullified/ignored and subsequently obfuscated for the life of the next incoming government - 'nothing to see here, move along'... 

Somewhat related...  

Via the Oz:

Call to ease ‘rigid’ airport rules

ANNABEL HEPWORTH
An easing of ‘rigid and outdated’ operating restrictions at Australia’s largest airport is needed, says a transport forum.

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An easing of “rigid and outdated” operating restrictions at Australia’s largest airport is needed to spur the economy, the tourism and transport sector will declare today.

In a paper obtained by The Australian, the Tourism and Transport Forum will step up its push to convince policymakers to overhaul the tight caps on aircraft movements at Sydney airport.

The group will also urge the Coalition and Opposition to support reforms to the rules for when airlines can get dispensation to land during the politically sensitive overnight curfew at Kingsford-Smith Airport, and for changes to allow newer freighters to operate during the curfew.

TTF chief executive Margy Osmond said that while the proposed $5.3 billion Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek would be curfew-free, there was a wait of at least eight years before it started operating and “both leisure and business travellers will in the interim continue to be inconvenienced by delays caused by unforeseen events such as severe weather or aircraft issues”.

Ms Osmond said the cap on aircraft movements at Australia’s largest air transport hub could not be viewed in isolation because the operating restrictions flowed on to “the entire network”.

This was because operating restrictions at Sydney added to initial delays, so they spilt into the national network — especially to Melbourne and Brisbane — sometimes even into the next day.

Federal government restrictions introduced in 1997 limit the number of runway movements at Sydney to 80 per hour, with the caps measured over a “rolling” hour that starts every 15 minutes — stopping airlines from recovering times when flights fall behind if the new times would push out the hourly cap.

The group wants the 15-minute rolling hour scrapped and more than 80 movements an hour allowed, but without increasing the overall number in a day.

This would “help relieve flight backlogs and enable airlines to restore schedule integrity following instances of major weather disruption, technical issues, late inbound aircraft, infrastructure failure or other significant incidents,” the paper says. The group is also wanting the dispensations to depart or arrive during the 11pm to 6am curfew changed to allow landings during “major” weather disruption, which are excluded at the moment.

The paper comes as a slew of groups have called for a review of the tight flight restrictions in place at Sydney airport.

Earlier this year, the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia — whose 32 members include Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas and Emirates — called for “more effective measures of aircraft noise impacts and respite than the current hourly movement cap”.

BARA has suggested “noise budgets”, similar to systems used at California’s Long Beach Airport and London’s Heathrow.

TTF — whose members include Sydney and other airports, as well as airlines including Qantas — also wants new freighters to be allowed to operate during the curfew. Under the Sydney Curfew Act 1995, only the British Aerospace 146 freight ­aircraft can land between 11pm and 6am.

As well, the group is urging changes to the system that guarantees slots at Kingsford Smith Airport for regional services, but caps their number during peak periods. Virgin Australia has previously called for this change.

MTF...P2