SM4 Pirate
You state;
The reason ASA doen't make money at most tower locations is due to 'on costs' getting the ATC labour off the books does nothing to reduce the 'on costs'; this includes ILS maintainance, as well as corporate overheads etc.
I think you will find the corporate overheads are, as Bino's states, are significant. Just look at the breakdown between the controllers and the management, and you'll see where all the money goes. With a streamlined management structure, you can achieve significant cost savings. Where is there any incentive for AsA to actually reduce overheads and save the industry money? There is none. They just need to raise prices to ensure that their mandated annual return is met.
By introducing contract towers, significant cost reductions to industry can be made, and pay and conditions to controllers, the ones actually provinding the service, can be improved. My discussions earlier this year with an ex FAA Center(sp) manager gave me the overriding impression that the contract tower principle works well can can easily be applied to Australia. There are aprox 200 VFR contract towers in the US, run by about 3 companies. These provide GAAP/Class D type services, and can be compared to the likes of Hamilton Island, Mackay, Albury etc. There is no reason they cannot contract out the operation of the GAAP towers as well.
Just look at how much the current terminal infrastructure and management cost per year (which is published by AsA). You will see for yourself how much savings can be made.
Bevan..