Okihara:
The combination of higher urbanisation in Australia with lower overall population also has a more insidious consequence: there are also fewer places with sizable populations to fly to. The business gravity centres are concentrated in Melbourne and Sydney with few other places left that would warrant travelling with a small aircraft.
Having worked in the field of industry development, I think there is a mix up of cause and effect here.
The concentration of business activity in the capitals is caused by poor transport options to the regional centers. I understand that this is something of a chicken and egg problem but the fact remains that many people and businesses would like to escape the capitals to a cheaper, greener lifestyle if they could.
I am currently in Italy and at least North of Rome you will find household and engineering world famous brand names in quite small towns. For example Brembo brakes are in the small city of Bergamo and Campagnolo (Bicycle hardware) is about two km from where I’m staying in Vicenza. Those and many similar companies would think your crazy if you told them they had to move to Rome or Milan “to be competitive”. The key of course is first class communications.
This is where our infrastructure department is letting us all down. It’s not just airports, it’s getting CASA to foster aviation, it’s roads and rail as well.
For example Australia is too stupid to confine trucks to the left lanes on freeways and institute 130kmh+ car speed limits on suitable highways (although 140kmh in a Fiat500 is breathtaking). Too stupid to stop councils degrading airports. Too stupid to stop CASA making GA unaffordable and destroying any growth prospects.
For example, I am 45 minutes by C172 from YMMB or three hours by road. You think somebody could make an air taxi business out of that? No way in Australia. Why even in third world “backward” Vietnam there is a Cessna caravan service from Hanoi to Halong Bay.
We are prevented by bureaucrats from even trying to solve our transport problems.