NAC turns 9

[tipped off]

Well what can I say I turn on to this site once a month to read the jeolous bagging by ungreatfull pilots. Well I bet HA is sitting in his office laughing at you guys who need the jobs but continualy bag those who give you a go. HA give it your best shot for the next 9. Lets see where the whingers are in there near future.

con grats

[slice]

hmmmm... you are not aware then of the latest developments regarding the proprietor himself or the outstanding wages owed by NAC?

I don't think he will be in any mood to celebrate.

[LUVJET]

Tipped Off,

you should be tipped up side down and dropped on your head....where have you been the last.....lets say 60 days.

you are talking about a human who has no regard for the law, no regard for business and certainly no regard for other humans.

trust me i have been had by this jerk personally one on one and quite frankly he did not have to be that way.

This has plenty to do with aviation....how....well the way he runs his life is the way way he runs his business.....with great contempt.....the sooner he leaves this industry the better and the sooner the real professional of aviation can get on with the job.

i;ll give him till christmas......not even some bloke with a fat cheque book from down south can save NAC now.

[captwawa]

or a fat bloke behind reception who might be jobless soon himself.:uhoh:

Heard that the maintenance controller has left....

The citation as well....

And now the accountant....

Something about rats off a sinking ship:E

Welcome back to the forum HA (or the now Tipped Off). Another pretend friend.

[LUVJET]

Captwawa,

it is interesting based on the replies so far re this topic that , the true identity of tipped off seems obvious.

On the other hand the human at the centre of this discssion has been spotted in melbourne as recent as this day........a far cry from jumping of hotel balconies in to swimming pools in darwin in a stupour , with his mate (two peas in a pod) from down south.

me thinks ........doesnt matter what me thinks.......time to have dinner and let people self destruct...........

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND........HaHaHa.........funny!!!!!

[tinpis]

Well I think yer all got the wrong end of the stick.
I drove by the said establishmenyt today and it s obvious theyre really on the move.
There where only 3 planes parked there a partinbana a 210 and a cheeftan with no engines.
This would indicate to any fool that the rest of the fleet is out flying.

[G.A. Boy]

That's because the rest have been reposessed or ferried down south that other posts have stated! Not many OK_ registered aircraft flying round DN now except with other companies.

[Erin Brockovich]

it s obvious theyre really on the move.
Yes you are right to some extent. The aircraft owners are on the move, the non flying staff are on the move, the creditors are on the move, the police and the prosecuters are on the move, BP has moved.
There where only 3 planes parked there a partinbana a 210 and a cheeftan with no engines.
This would indicate to any fool that the rest of the fleet is out flying.
Yes, a fool would think that but any normal person would realise that half the fleet once out will not be returning. Also word on the street in Melb is that the NAC Ops Manager is looking for work there and it's not at Donut King.

[Howard Hughes]

By the sounds of it this topic should be:

"Nac turns 9, will they make 10?"

Who will we have to pick on when they're gone?

Cheers, HH.

:ok:

[tinpis]

First time I been to the Hairyport for ages.
Man dere be some plash hangars now eh?
Are Wak wak planes being used for sumpin or just grazin on the fence?
Hope AN get the guvmint subsidy be a shame if something actually worked up here without a handout.

[dasjab]

Congrats Stefan and the crew, 9 years is about three lifetimes in GA. Job well done.

[tinpis]

OH :hmm:

Airnorth flights axed
By PAUL DYER
16nov04

A Territory airline has scrapped its ``milk run'' between Darwin and Alice Springs because the NT Government refused to pay it more than $200,000.

A second airline is considering covering part of the route _ but it is likely there will no longer be regular passenger flights between Darwin and Tennant Creek.

As reported by the Northern Territory News last week, Airnorth will cease regular services on the route from January 5.

Airline sales and marketing manager Andrew Dubyna said: ``We would like to see the route continue but the traffic is simply not there _ it is not feasible.''

Last year the Territory Government subsidised the airline $104,000 to continue the service, which stopped at Katherine and Tennant Creek, over the Wet.

This year the airline asked for $213,000 to continue service three times a week for the next 12 months.

The Government paid Airnorth $52,000 to extend the run through December.

But Transport and Infrastructure Minister Chris Burns yesterday rejected the overall offer on the back of flagging passenger numbers. ``It is clear a year-round operation of the Airnorth service is no longer viable,'' he said.

A disappointed Mr Dubyna said Airnorth was left with no choice but to axe the service.

He said the company predicted a loss of about $500,000 in the next year if the service continued.

The move has prompted Aboriginal Air Services to consider offering four flights a week between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek and establishing a possible trial Darwin-Katherine service.

General manager Anthony Sandford said flights could start in January. ``We have invested a lot of money into the aircraft _ to use them as much as possible makes sense,'' he said.

Aboriginal Air Services runs single-engine planes and would offer early morning and late-night services.

Dr Burns said the NT Government had committed $50,000 to installing emergency landing lights at Ali Curung and Ti Tree to make this plan possible.

Opposition Leader Terry Mills said the Government had let the Territory down by not supporting the Airnorth service. :ok:

[victor two]

Ridiculous. Whatever happened to market forces? If there is no demand for the service, let Airnorth face the consequences without bleating for constant handouts. Why should the taxpayer keep paying to have empty aircraft flying up and down the centre of Australia.

No passengers - Shut it down until demand improves.

Thats my 2 cents worth.

[tinpis]

victor two how much do politicians pay for votes in your part of Australia?

[OpsNormal]

Victor two. Market forces? What are they in the 'Territory? How much of a population base do you think we have?

While I don't work for the company concerned, I do work for the bloke who owns most of it and will say that I've only seen the aircraft empty once in the past couple of years.

They've tried everything from scaling back from an (effectively) 6 day a week schedule (5 days a week, and into AS on saturday, out on sunday), to offering government and high utilisation companies (such as mining companies) significant discounts for tickets bought either in bulk or pre-paid vouchers. The mining companies (such as Giant's Reef, Barminco etc) still to this day charter an aircraft to take about 10 fellas from Alice to Tennant and return every week. These guys wont use the Centre Run because it doesn't suit their timetable of the other inbound jets from the major cities, and the fact that the Centre Run doesn't run on Thursdays, and has to leave too early of a wednesday afternoon to be useful to them.

The Centre Run (TL155) is an essential service that has been keeping the cost and delivery times of frieght down, moving people between their home towns and communities, and at times also moving sick and the infirm with speed and relative comfort between what amount to be very small population bases. The main client requirement between Alice and Darwin is just that - between Alice and Darwin, which QF has gotten pretty well serviced with the morning and evening 146.

The 'Territory itself (outside of Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs) is still effectively developing. The 'Territory Government, in it's infinite wisdom made a promise to its constituents a couple of years ago to do everything in its power to ensure the continued development of industry and business. About this time last year load factors hadn't been all that special on the Centre Run, so Air North called upon people who'd rather use other forms of transport to utilise the aircraft or the run would close. It was scaled back, and the government agreed to help fund the centre-run as an essential service to a developing Territory.

It cannot continue to lose money hand over fist the way it is, so dare I say it, it is only a matter of time before Tennant Creek and Katherine lose that valuable multi turboprop service, and start to feel the follow-on effects. Ask yourself: A Pa31/C402 in the wetseason, or as far above it as possible with pressurisation. The Metro has a similar DOC as a Conquest, so with more seats, the metro is in front there also.

Victor Two, a reality check for you: Once the service is gone, damand for it will lessen, not increase. Besides, the Australian taxpayer has been funding millions (if not billions) of dollars of flights for minority groups all across the 'Territory/W.A/Qld/S.A for many many years now (it is called the Remote Area Subsity Scheme - RASS), what makes TL155 any different? (i.e: mail/frt etc still travels on it)?

These areas, the Kimberley/Goldfields/Pilbara/Channell Country/Cape York/Arnhemland/The Gulf/Gascoigne etc etc are all much the same, they will all need services to develop them that folks who live in the larger regional centres and cities will all think is too extravagent to pay for, but they need them nonetheless.

Regards,

OpsN ;)

[maxgrad]

Yo ops!
gotta say I've seen the pencils empty or more to the piont not in a position to raise revenue any number of times.
what you say is correct though, the NT govt have an agenda on this one.
Tennent Creek and Katherine will badly miss the service but if the Gov told their employees to fly instead of drive and refuse to renumerate them for driving it would mean the service would continue
don't ya luv red tape:mad: :yuk: :mad:

[victor two]

I can understand your points about the need to try and maintain these regional services and about the fact that governments do waste money supporting other unsustainable activities as an act of good faith.

From a business perspective however, I don't regard it as a sound practice to rely on governments to bail out companies just for the symbolic value of doing so.
Airnorth at some stage must have developed an aircraft, cost and route structure that they believed was profitable. They expected to make a lot of money on that centre run and not many people are taking up the offer. To me, that suggests that maybe a scale back in frequency is required.

Qantas instantly cuts flights into asia the second someone sneezes twice in a row for fear of SARS outbreaks. Why should it be that different? The federal government didn't rush to bail out Ansett when their corporate planners stuffed it up either. Governements cant be accountable for non reactive commercial business plans forever in my opinion.

That daily 146 service seems to do the job just fine, cant someone just accept that a turboprop service may not be essential all year round.

And....If you say that their flights are always full, and "only empty once in a couple years" why are they not making a lot of money out of their flight structures?

[barra21]

Other than overall decreasing demand, one of the problems of the Centre run is the longest sector KTR/TCK has no demand what so ever.

[OpsNormal]

Victor, while not wanting to bog this thread down (as it is to do with another company), can we take it over to the thread on D+G reporting Points: Air North Axes Centre Run (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=152426) ?

I'll reply to your post there.

Regards,

OpsN.;)