Airservices reduces costs to improve profits while they force GA costs up
Recently the head of Airservices Australia, Jason Harfield, gave a presentation at the Waypoint Conference in Canberra which shows they are pushing through redundancies and reducing costs so they can get back into a more profitable situation.
While they are doing this, they are still insisting to CASA that all small GA aircraft that fly in cloud must be fitted with ADS-B by February of next year. The CASA figure for the cost of this was over $30 million, yet there is no measurable saving.
The rumour around is that at the last moment, they are going to follow the AOPA request and delay the mandate until after that of the USA. In the meantime, lots of small firms are borrowing money to fit the ADS-B, even though they claim there is no measurable saving.
The self-interest in this is amazing. That is, " we can reduce our costs while we force extra costs on your business." Then again, there are certain advantages in being a monopoly, but you would think they wouldn’t exploit the position.
As I have advised before, I see no light on the horizon. I believe those who stay in GA are going to lose more and more than those who got out earlier. I’m sorry I can’t be more positive.