This is my interpretation of the whole situation which I posted in the petition in response to the whole situation:
As a student pilot I am one of the victims of the bankstown airport’s privatisation. All the increases in rent and landing fees directly affect the cost of my formation: for instance I am now paying $210 per hour dual on a 152! Even though I am only young and have only studied economics at school, even I can see that selling off the three sydney GA airports to one operator, BAL, will create an absolute monopoly and giving BAL the option of doing what they want when they want as they have NO competition to contend with. It is time for the government to wake up and step in in order to prevent the situation getting any worse. The Australian government must follow the example of the British government when they broke up BAA’s monopoly over London’s busiest airports. Although the economy is in a slump at the moment it is important to realise that this situation will not last for ever and as the Australian and indeed global economy starts to get back on its feet and pick up the pieces, a demand for air travel will again surge. But how would the aviation market cope with this dramatic increase in demand if they do not have the labour to fly the planes? Where would the airlines and GA get pilots from if airports such as Bankstown continue to decline? Wake up Australia, if you want cheap and accessible air travel to continue you must provide the resources and infrastructure to train pilots, cabin crew, engineers… Without the infrastructure, pilots will become very thin on the ground and as a direct consequence, the cost of the average ticket will inevitably rise. That’s my take on the whole situation, now I shall turn it over to the people who can do something about this and simply hope for the best…
Speedbird 9