Originally Posted by
ozbiggles
It shows how inept you must have to be to qualify to be on an Airport board,
Trying to sabotage your best bet at using your half empty terminals in the short term by blocking in leased, unused aircraft. Brilliant! It is actually the first thing that has got Qantas and Virgin working together again.
And if I was a bored American aircraft lease owner with no money coming in for my aircraft I would have a crack at suing the relevant airport boards for a few million dollars.
I have a feeling there will be a couple of Airport boards getting a few calls from the politicians this weekend and the nonsense will stop....but the damage has been done.
Does seem to take a special kind of stupid not to realise that heavy metal is practically worthless for quite a while.
Jethro: I suspect that the terms of use of BNE create a lien enforceable in relation to the aircraft. Clause 10.4 of the "Brisbane Airport Aviation Services and Charges Agreement – Runway System" (here
https://www.bne.com.au/sites/default...ent-RUNWAY.pdf) says:
10.4 Right to detain aircraft
For all users other than Major Users, if you do not pay the Aviation Charges or the Government Mandated Charges on time then we may detain your aircraft and hold your aircraft pending payment.
Interestingly, Virgin appears to fall within the definition of "Major User" in clause 19.1:
Major Users means:
(a) any airline or aircraft operators that, at the relevant time, represents at least 10% of the total passenger numbers at the Airport; ...
Perhaps BNE takes the view that the relevant time is 'now', and now Virgin's passenger numbers are squat?
There is a useful article on creating liens here:
https://www.piperalderman.com.au/__f...ber%202011.pdf
I reckon the legal situation would be different if individuals were on an aircraft trying to fly out, but I note that mere legalities don't stop arseholes from flexing their muscles.