How Long Until Dick Blames Oposition to NAS for this?
Whats the bet that all of the following will be due to oposition to Dick's NAS proposals. I'd like to run a sweep in hourly increments until his first "I told you so" is published. Any takers?
Call to lobby MPs on navigation fees
By Steve Creedy
July 16, 2004
THE general aviation industry has been urged to increase pressure on local MPs in the lead-up to the federal election, as angst about huge fee increases proposed by Airservices Australia spreads.
Submissions on Airservices increases of up to 1000 per cent, which closed on Wednesday, were overwhelmingly against the proposal.
Airservices is proposing to increase fees at secondary airports with control towers from a $7.42 terminal navigation charge to as much as $164.22 a tonne.
Fees for fire fighting and rescue would also rise.
Airlines and other aviation industry operators are facing a 73 per cent jump in the hourly rate they are charged for work performed by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, as well as lesser rises for other services.
The price rises have been condemned by the Australian Owners and Pilots Association, Air Ambulance Services and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The RFDS has warned it cannot absorb the increases and it may have to cut back on operations.
AOPA vice-president Andrew Kerans repeated a call for a white paper on general aviation and warned the sector would not survive if the Government continued to "throw together policy that neglects or punishes the pilots and aircraft owners of Australia".
"With over 60,000 GA, recreational and glider pilots, general aviation represents a formidable voting block if targeted correctly," he said.
"AOPA is calling on pilots to see where their local member or senator stand on the development of a cohesive policy."
Airservices will collate the industry views and incorporate them into a submission due to go to the the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission later this month.
Despite the furore, it is unlikely the fee increases will get through the regulatory process unchanged.
The federal Government has already indicated it has doubts about the rises.
A spokesman for Transport Minister John Anderson said the Government did not support rises of this magnitude but would make its views clearer at the appropriate time - probably after the ACCC had made its decision, he said.
Airservices spokesman Richard Dudley conceded changes were possible but warned every solution faced opposition from at least one section of the industry.
Mr Dudley said Airservices was seeking to be as open and as transparent as possible about its funding issues after a government decision to end subsidies worth $7 million. "It's costing us $28 million a year to operate terminal tower control service at the 26 ports where we have them and 16 airports where we have aviation rescue and fire fighting.
"Even with the $7 million subsidy, we're still running at a $21 million loss.
"And the reason why it's come to the crunch now is because up until this current financial year, we've been amortising that $21 million loss across other service lines, like en route (air traffic control services), where we are making a profit.
"But it's clearly unsustainable in the longer term unless we can find some way of doing it." Alternatives to the increases mooted in various forums include a reduction in the return paid to the government, the introduction of a different charging regime to include touch-and-go landings, or contracting out tower services.
Aviator Dick Smith believes contracting out air traffic control services to the lowest bidder would reduce the cost of control towers at smaller areas by as much as 50 per cent.
"In most cases this will be some air traffic controllers who have set up their own company," Mr Smith said.