6 Nov ’15. Steve Creedy, award winning aviation editor, The Australian, commented.
CASA reforms: Rex says Order 48.1 will force routes to close.
Rex chief operating officer Neville Howell says CAO 48.1 if implemented would cost Rex more than $4m a year. Regional Express has warned that new rules about flight time limitations will cost it more than $4 million annually and could make some routes unviable as angst about regulatory reforms continues to spill out into the public arena.
In a strongly worded letter sent to Civil Aviation Safety Authority boss Mark Skidmore earlier this year, Australia’s biggest independent regional carrier warned that Civil Aviation Order 48.1 was seriously flawed and was introduced with no real representation from regional aviation.
It also argued the new rules did not meet a directive issued by Mr. Skidmore calling for regulatory changes must be shown to be necessary as well as justified on the basis of safety, do not impose unnecessary costs of hinder participation in aviation and its capacity for growth.
“The new prescriptive rule sets of CAO 48.1 if implemented would cost Rex over $4 million annually,’’ the letter from Rex chief operating officer Neville Howell said. “The impact on the 5 Queensland regulated routes that Rex services would represent an additional cost in excess of $2.25 million annually for transporting only some 30,000 passengers a year.
This impost would need to be passed to the passenger and would effectively render the service untenable, and would close the services to these remote and isolated communities who depend heavily on the access they receive for medical, legal, government and social activities.”
The letter emerged after aviation groups last week called for an industry task force to deal with the continuing damage caused by regulatory and urged CASA to withdraw CAO 48.1.
Umbrella group The Australian Aviation Associations Forum expressed concern at the slow pace of reform and the ongoing cost of new impositions from new regulations.
The forum warned that recently introduced CASA regulations were threatening the viability of the industry, particularly general aviation, with millions of dollars needed to be invested with no particular safety gains.
It singled out CAO 48.1 and parts 61 (pilot licensing), 141 (recreational, private and commercial pilot training) and 142 (integrated and multi-crew pilot training and checking) as areas which needed urgently addressing.
Industry players gearing up their campaigns for the next federal election subsequently cautioned CASA not to ignore the TAAAF call.
Regional Aviation Association of Australia chief executive Paul Tyrrell said regional airlines had urged Mark Skidmore to accelerate the authority’s reorganization.
“We were trying to inject a sense of urgency I guess into the CASA hierarchy about what we see as some of the low-hanging fruit from the Forsyth Review,’’ he said.
Aerial Application of Association of Australia head Phil Hurst said the communique was a plea for help.
“It is a genuine heartfelt concern for the welfare of an industry that has been damaged directly by CASA regulations,’’ he said. “The problems currently experienced with firefighting training are a direct result of poor planning and appalling implementation of regulations.
“The best way forward is to get fresh eyes from industry to identify practical exemptions and amendments to address the very real issues.’’
The Australian Helicopter Industry Association is advising its members to withdraw their applications to protest “the administrative burden, financial penalties and lack of progress with applications for parts 141, 142 & 145 (maintenance) certificates’’.
The AHIA is particularly concerned about the high cost — sometimes more than $100,000 — its members are paying for documentation and what it says is confusion among CASA personnel about parts 141 and 142.
“It is like trying to find a road across a desert in a dust storm; like the shifting sands, the constantly shifting guidelines make the way forward impossible,’’ AHIA vice-president Ray Cronin said.
“As a result, the AHIA is recommending its members and others in the helicopter community bunker down and withdraw their parts 141, 142 & 145 applications until such time as CASA is able to provide completed templates for the industry to use in the application process.’’
Aviation Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Business Association executive director Ken Cannane said the proposals should be dropped in favour of a system based on the US Federal Aviation Administration regulations.
Mr Cannane said general aviation design, manufacture and maintenance had all suffered from the inability of CASA to maintain pace with the modernisation of the FAR system that once underpinned general aviation in Australia.
He said general aviation supported the FAR system and AMROBA believed the current system was unworkable. The CASA board needed to urgently move towards a FAR-based system for the sector.
“Since the commencement of the CAA in 1988, the industry has promised reforms to reduce red tape and regulatory requirements to enable improved safety and productivity,’’ Mr Cannane said.
“However, like all other associations, all we have seen is the opposite happen as regulatory reform has been changed to regulatory development resulting in increased red tape and requirements.
“CASA has ignored governments’ regulatory reform best practice guidelines for over a decade.’’
CASA has said it was actively consulting with the aviation community on a range of issues and this would continue. Changes had also been made to rules to address particular issues such as firefighting operations, it said.