Editorial - Airport issues demand debate

There are currently so many issues around airports in Australia that is difficult to know where to start.

One could focus on the inefficiencies and inadequacies of the rural airport scene, which struggles to attract and retain scheduled air services. The same arena is threatened with infrastructure charges it can hardly afford, if it is successful in hosting those air services.

Then there’s the need for some rationalisation – and amplification – of the second-tier airport scene, which sees only some of its airport members flourishing, with widespread neglected opportunties for others.

And then there’s the Sydney basin scenario, which features a very limited number of under-utilised airports for such a major and rapidly growing city.

No doubt a lot of this will be canvassed, both formally and informally, at the upcoming Australian Airports Association conference in Sydney this November. And perhaps in the Aviation White Paper, if we indeed see it this year. But the issues have been around for quite some time and progress towards dealing with them has been slow, if there has been progress.

The rural airport dilemma has always been: How do you sustain a viable airport infrastructure in a such a large landscape with such a thin population density? In truth, you can’t, and what has existed historically has never been genuinely viable over time. It has only really worked where subsidy of some sort has been a factor.

The fact is that small rural centres in this island continent are more efficiently served by road (and rail if they’re lucky); but that denies them the convenience factor.

The only solution is surely a network of viable airport hubs in rural regions, connected to the major population centres around the coast, and fed by road, rail and (in some cases) by air. This will not be driven by regionally focused small councils which simply lack the vision and the resources; but it could be driven by the
potential hubs if they are in turn driven by some Federal vision and resourcing.

At the second-tier airport level, Melbourne’s Avalon is a fine example of a metropolitan alternative with a success story to tell - and more to come. But where are the others? To be part of the set such an airport needs to be in the city it serves, not a couple of hours away. These are the alternatives that have allowed the LCC scene to flourish in Europe, in particular. And here, they could easily include airports like Edinburgh (Adelaide) and Richmond (Sydney), if the ADF would come to the party. Great success stories like Newcastle (which relies on ADF cooperation) and the Gold Coast have different niche roles to play - and recognition of that is what has made them such successes.

Which segues well into the Sydney second airport debate.

As long as we have a Federal minister for transport whose electorate abuts Sydney Airport there will be no admission that, in fact, the airport is operating at well below capacity. And that if the debate was conducted along constructive lines, there would be ways to take advantage of the unused capacity without inflicting undue hardship on those electors residing near the airport.

Plenty to talk about!

Doug Nancarrow