Reform Scenic Flights regulation!
Regular Public Transport
"Flight operations performed for remuneration and conducted to fixed schedules over specific routes, and on which seats and/or cargo space is available to the general public." - ref. CASA Glossary of Terms
The push is on, and supposedly has been since the GFC, for increased productivity and boosted opportunities for economic growth and employment, Australia wide.
Why then, in this country, is it simply not permitted for a scenic flight operator to publish and maintain a fixed schedule of departure times for any chosen air tour/ scenic flight without the ridiculous requirement to operate as RPT?
Imagine running a cinema and being denied the right to promote your viewing times? You must wait until enough people show up for you to switch on the projector, open the cinema doors etc. etc.
How long would you last? Not long!
Now consider this: say in the next town the cinema laws are different and those operators can publish their showtimes. Who's got the competitive edge? Who's clearly more productive and more efficient?
And here's the difference: in the US right now I can go online and book a single seat on a scenic helicopter flight over New York or a scenic air tour over the Grand Canyon, at a fixed price departing at a fixed time. I'm very confident these are not RPT operators.
No risk to safety, no reason not to reform for the 21st century.
Its definitely not just Qantas who feels it must compete with one arm behind its back!