WA Govt seeks to protect Skywest
13/3/03
The Western Australian Government will regulate air services to protect vulnerable intrastate air routes and work with the resource industry to convert mining charter flights into public passenger services.
Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan today announced details of the State Government's strategy for ensuring the stability and continuity of regional air services.
"The central principle is that the Government is prepared to use its regulatory powers, but only to the extent necessary to guarantee a sustainable network," Ms MacTiernan said.
An independent report commissioned by the State Government made it clear that routes of fewer than 50,000 passengers could not cope with competition.
Ms MacTiernan said the State Government would:
offer Skywest Airlines a two-year exclusive licence to operate services from Perth to Carnarvon, Exmouth, Albany and Esperance, subject to providing ongoing services for Leinster and Leonora and acceptable service standards and fare structures;
open the Perth-Geraldton route to staged competition, as it has reached the threshold point of 55,000-60,000 passengers; and
call tenders for an airline to provide a service between Perth, Kalbarri and Shark Bay through Geraldton.
The Skywest route protection will be subject to the company making suitable arrangements for leasing aircraft.
Ms MacTiernan said jet route services between Perth and Kalgoorlie, Port Hedland, Karratha and Broome would not be subject to any competition restraint.
"We will monitor the impact and effectiveness of regulation and - at the completion of the two-year period - will either deregulate some or all of these routes, or proceed with an open and competitive tender to operate exclusive services," the Minister said.
Resource Industry Charters.
Ms MacTiernan said the Government also wanted to harness the vast fly-in/fly-out network of mining air charter services for the benefit of regional communities.
"We will work with the resources sector to improve services into regional towns to encourage the conversion of fly-in/fly-out charter services across to regular passenger transport (RPT) services," she said.
"We are confident the resources sector will bring an open mind to discussions on this issue and work to deliver a better outcome for the regional communities where the Government can use its capacity to regulate charters to encourage a positive result."
Ms MacTiernan said the Government was confident that its policy was compatible with National Competition Principles.
"We believe that this policy strikes a proper balance between sustainability and competition and will ensure a good spread of air services throughout Western Australia," she said.
Minister's office: 9213 6400