para ops
There was a plan out there by Rio to shut down Para and build a new airport about 18km north of Tom price that could handle direct 737 flights from the east coast, however that got shelved due to GFC.
The covers remain firmly on top of that at present.
Unfortunately, I doubt very much whether many FIFO ops would go the a fri-sun change as the companies realize that for those on a shorter work cycle, the weekend at home is important to attracting and retaining a good workforce.
For those on a longer cycle (2weeks on/off) like I work, it's not so much of an issue but my fly day works out in on Monday, out on tues, so kind of on the shoulder and flights to Perth are generally during the mid morn/mid arvo slots.
I do think the idea of east coast direct to NW or via Alice is a good idea, but it would involve a great deal of goodwill and cooperation between the 3 major miners plus a host of juniors to make the pax loads sustainable, all of which seems improbable considering that they are in competition with each other in the recruitment of employees and keep hold of any operational advantage that they can pass of as a possible benefit to their staff.
Definitely an issue that needs all of the stakeholders to sit down together though.
I do wonder though if maybe a way around some of the issues might be to look at moving some of the charter and GA type work to somewhere like northam ( or somewhere in an arc about 1-1.5 hours out of Perth) on an upgraded strip and build a dedicated high speed light rail link that can service it direct from Perth airport, with a secure parking setup built just for those people with one cheap weekly rate.
I might be dreaming but isn't that where all forward visionary planning stems from?