Private Ownership Has Liberated Our Airports
Thread Starter
Private Ownership Has Liberated Our Airports
In Friday's Australian Caroline Wilkie CEO of the Australian Airports Association, tells us what a fantastic job, privatisation has done of running and investing in our Airports.
It will be twenty years this month, since Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth Airports were privatised.
All I can say is thankgod, they have got in and built those parallel runways at Tula, it just improves traffic flow, imagine all those delays if we were still stuck with only the original 1970's runway layout!
Perhaps they could build a housing suburb at Melbourne airport between the parallel runways, just to boost the bottom line?
It will be twenty years this month, since Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth Airports were privatised.
All I can say is thankgod, they have got in and built those parallel runways at Tula, it just improves traffic flow, imagine all those delays if we were still stuck with only the original 1970's runway layout!
Perhaps they could build a housing suburb at Melbourne airport between the parallel runways, just to boost the bottom line?
In Friday's Australian Caroline Wilkie CEO of the Australian Airports Association, tells us what a fantastic job, privatisation has done of running and investing in our Airports.
It will be twenty years this month, since Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth Airports were privatised.
All I can say is thankgod, they have got in and built those parallel runways at Tula, it just improves traffic flow, imagine all those delays if we were still stuck with only the original 1970's runway layout!
Perhaps they could build a housing suburb at Melbourne airport between the parallel runways, just to boost the bottom line?
It will be twenty years this month, since Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth Airports were privatised.
All I can say is thankgod, they have got in and built those parallel runways at Tula, it just improves traffic flow, imagine all those delays if we were still stuck with only the original 1970's runway layout!
Perhaps they could build a housing suburb at Melbourne airport between the parallel runways, just to boost the bottom line?
^^Really, the Australian power supply system is a shambles.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-ene...sis-1499700859
Shortages drove domestic gas prices earlier this year in some markets in eastern Australia to as high as $17 per million British thermal units for smaller gas users such as manufacturers. On the spot market, gas prices have gone from below $1 in 2014 to roughly $7 today—well above the roughly $3 that prevails in the U.S.—causing havoc around the country.
In the week that Adelaide’s February blackout cut power to 90,000 homes, five ships left Gladstone carrying out 314,000 tons of LNG altogether, according to the port operator. That’s enough to generate electricity for roughly 750,000 Australian homes for a year, according to calculations for the Journal by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-ene...sis-1499700859
Shortages drove domestic gas prices earlier this year in some markets in eastern Australia to as high as $17 per million British thermal units for smaller gas users such as manufacturers. On the spot market, gas prices have gone from below $1 in 2014 to roughly $7 today—well above the roughly $3 that prevails in the U.S.—causing havoc around the country.
In the week that Adelaide’s February blackout cut power to 90,000 homes, five ships left Gladstone carrying out 314,000 tons of LNG altogether, according to the port operator. That’s enough to generate electricity for roughly 750,000 Australian homes for a year, according to calculations for the Journal by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Harbour Master Place
Posts: 662
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Latern, I suspect you may have missed the implied <sarcasm/> tag in WingNut's post 
. See Poe's Law.
. See Poe's Law.
Originally Posted by Wikipedia
Poe's law is an adage of Internet culture stating that, without a clear indicator of the author's intent, it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers or viewers as a sincere expression of the parodied views.
...
If you submit a satiric item without this symbol [winky], no matter how obvious the satire is to you, do not be surprised if people take it seriously.
...
If you submit a satiric item without this symbol [winky], no matter how obvious the satire is to you, do not be surprised if people take it seriously.
NewsCorp papers, particularly the Oz, are very fond of publishing "opinion pieces" written by vested interests. Invariably these "pieces" should have a warning that they are advertisements or PR press releases. I also consider "pieces" written by ex-politicians and former Chiefs-of-Staff to be in the same category. Agree that this one re the private airports was just utter rubbish.
Her article should be nominated for the Man Booker prize.
To have to gumption to claim airports are doing their job as infrastructure is utterly ridiculous. Astronomical charges, permanent traffic holding due to lack of capacity, lack of gates at peak times, ludicrous parking charges, Brisbane being closed due fog, ridiculous terminal designs, illogical high speed taxiways etc
If there was ever an example of a economic model FAILING, I would argue that these airports are it. They do not serve the function they are meant to. Which is to be an airport, which means connecting people in the fastest most economically viable way possible.
What we have in Australia are airports which have absolutely no incentive to operative efficiently. They actually financially benefit from being bad at their primary business. Now name me another industry where you can get away with that?
To have to gumption to claim airports are doing their job as infrastructure is utterly ridiculous. Astronomical charges, permanent traffic holding due to lack of capacity, lack of gates at peak times, ludicrous parking charges, Brisbane being closed due fog, ridiculous terminal designs, illogical high speed taxiways etc
If there was ever an example of a economic model FAILING, I would argue that these airports are it. They do not serve the function they are meant to. Which is to be an airport, which means connecting people in the fastest most economically viable way possible.
What we have in Australia are airports which have absolutely no incentive to operative efficiently. They actually financially benefit from being bad at their primary business. Now name me another industry where you can get away with that?
Last edited by neville_nobody; 16th Jul 2017 at 07:20.
Sydney-siders should get along to see Dr Cameron Murray, who wrote Game of Mates, at the Crows Nest Hotel 6 - 8pm on Tuesday July 18. This is an interesting interview with him: » Australians fleeced by business insiders | Sydney Talk Radio
It will also be interesting to see what mates get the sinecures and lucrative contracts out of the Western Sydney Airport project.
It will also be interesting to see what mates get the sinecures and lucrative contracts out of the Western Sydney Airport project.
I'm a fan of the private sector done the private sector way - the Wagner/Wellcamp way.
I'm not a fan of government monopolies being handed over to mates.
do you think that continued Commonwealth ownership and operation would have produced a better result?
Take a look at the Gold Coast. No ILS and no aerobridges. How many other international airports in the world have that appaling level of infrastructure. Country towns in the US and most 3rd world countries at least have a aerobridge and an ILS.
Last edited by neville_nobody; 16th Jul 2017 at 12:19.
A (legalised) tax on existence to pay someone's bonus.
....so, do you think that continued Commonwealth ownership and operation would have produced a better result?
I think that the common public experience of privatised monopoly toll roads, privatised monopoly airports, privatised (effectively) monopoly power and privatised vocational training is roving that yes, the public service DID run these institutions more effectively and in-line with the greater good of the Australian people.
Here's the article:
Australians fly. A lot. Our island nation and our sheer geographical size mean air travel is part and parcel of our connectedness here and across the globe. And so, in this respect, our airports are our lifeblood.
We have fly in, fly out workers. We have flying doctors and emergency services, a burgeoning airfreight sector, as well as myriad charter operators in the tourism sector.
More than three million passenger journeys occur between more than 180 airports in Australia every week. We welcome 642,000 overseas visitors and farewell about 737,500 Australians on outbound trips on 58 international airlines each month.
In 1996, when the federal government still operated our major airports, it managed the movement of 67 million passengers a year.
Today, under the private ownership model, this number has grown to more than 154 million passengers.
In addition to tourism and international education being among our biggest export industries, our airports handle more than $100 billion of freighted exports and imports every year — such as gold, computers, food, flowers, industrial components and mail.
Each one of these journeys begins and ends at our airports.
In large part, Australia’s efficient connectedness by air is what it is today because of ongoing investment in our airports by their private sector owners and operators.
This month marks 20 years since the first three of those transitions took place at Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth airports. Many more followed in 1998. Since then air travel and the development of our airport economies in Australia have not looked back.
In its most recent regulatory report the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission indicated the operators of the biggest four airports in Australia invested $7bn across a 10-year period.
That investment has helped attract new carriers and open new routes and destinations for Australian passengers and competition that keeps downward pressure on airfares.
It has funded upgrades to infrastructure so airlines from around the world can land and transport Australian passengers on Airbus A380s.
It has cultivated commercial and retail business to the point where 100,000 Australians are now employed within airport precincts across the country.
It has delivered better security and facilities to ensure passengers begin and end their journeys safely.
It has helped to preserve regional air travel, with major airports and small council airports investing to support regional services across the country.
Through investment, airport operators also have developed the terminals that have underpinned the establishment and growth of low-cost carriers, Virgin and Jetstar among them.
Ongoing investments such as these are one of the reasons carriers such as Virgin and Jetstar have been able to keep airfares low.
Advances such as the self-serve technology being rolled out by airports are not only streamlining the check-in process for passengers but also are helping airlines to reduce their costs.
In fact, all of the investment by major airports in aeronautical infrastructure is designed to facilitate operational efficiencies for airlines and minimise their capacity constraints.
Improvements to runways, taxiways and aircraft parking foster growth, sustainability and a safe and competitive aviation market. And these investments have continued despite the return on aviation assets falling during the past five years. These are long-term investments funded primarily by Australian families through their superannuation.
This is in stark contrast to major public infrastructure throughout Australia — take ports, roads and urban public transport, for example — many of which bear the scars of systemic financial neglect and a failure to future-proof.
The taxpayer has not had to prop up our major airports for 20 years in the way the public purse has been relied on in every other infrastructure sector.
That is thanks to the decision made those two decades ago to open the doors to private investment and let innovation and enterprise thrive.
Investment by airport operators has not only proven vital to the customer experience.
It has provided the dynamic operational environment airlines require and has cultivated economic opportunity for the countless businesses and other services now run from, or as part of, airports across the country.
Caroline Wilkie is the chief executive of the Australian Airports Association
We have fly in, fly out workers. We have flying doctors and emergency services, a burgeoning airfreight sector, as well as myriad charter operators in the tourism sector.
More than three million passenger journeys occur between more than 180 airports in Australia every week. We welcome 642,000 overseas visitors and farewell about 737,500 Australians on outbound trips on 58 international airlines each month.
In 1996, when the federal government still operated our major airports, it managed the movement of 67 million passengers a year.
Today, under the private ownership model, this number has grown to more than 154 million passengers.
In addition to tourism and international education being among our biggest export industries, our airports handle more than $100 billion of freighted exports and imports every year — such as gold, computers, food, flowers, industrial components and mail.
Each one of these journeys begins and ends at our airports.
In large part, Australia’s efficient connectedness by air is what it is today because of ongoing investment in our airports by their private sector owners and operators.
This month marks 20 years since the first three of those transitions took place at Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth airports. Many more followed in 1998. Since then air travel and the development of our airport economies in Australia have not looked back.
In its most recent regulatory report the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission indicated the operators of the biggest four airports in Australia invested $7bn across a 10-year period.
That investment has helped attract new carriers and open new routes and destinations for Australian passengers and competition that keeps downward pressure on airfares.
It has funded upgrades to infrastructure so airlines from around the world can land and transport Australian passengers on Airbus A380s.
It has cultivated commercial and retail business to the point where 100,000 Australians are now employed within airport precincts across the country.
It has delivered better security and facilities to ensure passengers begin and end their journeys safely.
It has helped to preserve regional air travel, with major airports and small council airports investing to support regional services across the country.
Through investment, airport operators also have developed the terminals that have underpinned the establishment and growth of low-cost carriers, Virgin and Jetstar among them.
Ongoing investments such as these are one of the reasons carriers such as Virgin and Jetstar have been able to keep airfares low.
Advances such as the self-serve technology being rolled out by airports are not only streamlining the check-in process for passengers but also are helping airlines to reduce their costs.
In fact, all of the investment by major airports in aeronautical infrastructure is designed to facilitate operational efficiencies for airlines and minimise their capacity constraints.
Improvements to runways, taxiways and aircraft parking foster growth, sustainability and a safe and competitive aviation market. And these investments have continued despite the return on aviation assets falling during the past five years. These are long-term investments funded primarily by Australian families through their superannuation.
This is in stark contrast to major public infrastructure throughout Australia — take ports, roads and urban public transport, for example — many of which bear the scars of systemic financial neglect and a failure to future-proof.
The taxpayer has not had to prop up our major airports for 20 years in the way the public purse has been relied on in every other infrastructure sector.
That is thanks to the decision made those two decades ago to open the doors to private investment and let innovation and enterprise thrive.
Investment by airport operators has not only proven vital to the customer experience.
It has provided the dynamic operational environment airlines require and has cultivated economic opportunity for the countless businesses and other services now run from, or as part of, airports across the country.
Caroline Wilkie is the chief executive of the Australian Airports Association
Here is another article recently from the SMH on Melbourne airport.
It is interesting to notice what the focus is on. The airport CEO points to LAX and says how bad it is, when in reality they have 4 runways, ILS's everywhere and handle a large amount of traffic.
LAX had 697 138 movements in 2016.
MEL doesn't seem that interested in logging aircraft movements but they had 192 641 in 10-11.
These guys are really just interested in running shopping centres not airports hence the focus on passenger numbers and amenities.
It would be interesting to see what LAX charges are in comparison to MEL as well.
Stop bashing us, 'bruised' Melbourne Airport tells airlines
Patrick Hatch
The boss of Melbourne Airport has hit back at claims that Australia's monopoly airports are gouging airlines and that privatisation has been a failure.
Instead, Lyell Strambi says airports should get more credit for helping boost carriers' profits.
Share on Facebook SHARE
Share on Twitter TWEET
"I feel a little bruised that we're not getting full credit for the great work that we actually do," says Melbourne Airport chief Lyell Strambi.
Airlines have been on a war path over what they say are skyrocketing fees to land and take off at airports, and earlier this year Qantas, Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand and Regional Express formed the group Airlines for Australia and New Zealand to lobby for relief.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's annual report into airports this year found airports had steadily increased how much they charged airlines and boosted their profit margins over the past 10 years, taking in $1.57 billion more in revenue than if they kept the fees steady in real terms.
And the privatisation of Australia's airports has recently come under global criticism.
But Mr Strambi, Melbourne Airport's CEO, said airlines and airports' interests were aligned, and that airports had made significant investments to help carriers improve their profits.
He pointed to his airport building facilities to accommodate the double-decker Airbus A380 flown by Qantas and other airlines, and the building of the new T4 low-cost carrier terminal as examples where the airport's investment had improved airlines' efficiency.
"You need to look past the headline to actually say, yes, prices may well have increased beyond CPI from an airport charges perspective, but when you look at airfares and the resulting cost to the customer, they've continued to come down," Mr Strambi said.
Melbourne Airport's boss has hit back at claims of gouging.
"I feel a little bruised that we're not getting full credit for the great work that we actually do."
Try landing in LA
Alexandre de Juniac, chief executive of commercial aviation's global body the International Air Travel Association, named and shamed Australia last month as a country where privatising airports had been a failure, resulting in higher fees for airlines to the detriment of passengers and local economies.
But Mr Strambi, whose airport marked 20 years of private ownership this week, said anyone critical of privatisation should visit a government-owned airport such as Los Angeles International.
"That was a government facility and it actually looked and felt like a government facility: under investment, no real passenger amenity," he said.
"It's been really interesting, they haven't privatised the airport but they have introduced a private partner in Westfield into that airport and that has fundamentally changed the passenger experience."
'Liberation of capital'
Mr Strambi said privatising Australia's airports had resulted in a "liberation of capital from the public purse", and that private owners - a group of investors, mostly superannuation funds, in Melbourne's case - had greater discipline and accountability than governments would have.
Sydney Airport had the highest profit margin for aeronautical services last year at 46.7 per cent, followed by Brisbane Airport (44.9 per cent), Melbourne (38.2 per cent) and Perth (33.5 per cent), according to the ACCC.
Melbourne Airport estimates passenger numbers will double to 70 million a year over the next two decades and that it will overtake Sydney Airport as the nation's busiest.
It hopes to have a third runway operational by 2022 to deal with that growth.
It is interesting to notice what the focus is on. The airport CEO points to LAX and says how bad it is, when in reality they have 4 runways, ILS's everywhere and handle a large amount of traffic.
LAX had 697 138 movements in 2016.
MEL doesn't seem that interested in logging aircraft movements but they had 192 641 in 10-11.
These guys are really just interested in running shopping centres not airports hence the focus on passenger numbers and amenities.
It would be interesting to see what LAX charges are in comparison to MEL as well.
Stop bashing us, 'bruised' Melbourne Airport tells airlines
Patrick Hatch
The boss of Melbourne Airport has hit back at claims that Australia's monopoly airports are gouging airlines and that privatisation has been a failure.
Instead, Lyell Strambi says airports should get more credit for helping boost carriers' profits.
Share on Facebook SHARE
Share on Twitter TWEET
"I feel a little bruised that we're not getting full credit for the great work that we actually do," says Melbourne Airport chief Lyell Strambi.
Airlines have been on a war path over what they say are skyrocketing fees to land and take off at airports, and earlier this year Qantas, Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand and Regional Express formed the group Airlines for Australia and New Zealand to lobby for relief.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's annual report into airports this year found airports had steadily increased how much they charged airlines and boosted their profit margins over the past 10 years, taking in $1.57 billion more in revenue than if they kept the fees steady in real terms.
And the privatisation of Australia's airports has recently come under global criticism.
But Mr Strambi, Melbourne Airport's CEO, said airlines and airports' interests were aligned, and that airports had made significant investments to help carriers improve their profits.
He pointed to his airport building facilities to accommodate the double-decker Airbus A380 flown by Qantas and other airlines, and the building of the new T4 low-cost carrier terminal as examples where the airport's investment had improved airlines' efficiency.
"You need to look past the headline to actually say, yes, prices may well have increased beyond CPI from an airport charges perspective, but when you look at airfares and the resulting cost to the customer, they've continued to come down," Mr Strambi said.
Melbourne Airport's boss has hit back at claims of gouging.
"I feel a little bruised that we're not getting full credit for the great work that we actually do."
Try landing in LA
Alexandre de Juniac, chief executive of commercial aviation's global body the International Air Travel Association, named and shamed Australia last month as a country where privatising airports had been a failure, resulting in higher fees for airlines to the detriment of passengers and local economies.
But Mr Strambi, whose airport marked 20 years of private ownership this week, said anyone critical of privatisation should visit a government-owned airport such as Los Angeles International.
"That was a government facility and it actually looked and felt like a government facility: under investment, no real passenger amenity," he said.
"It's been really interesting, they haven't privatised the airport but they have introduced a private partner in Westfield into that airport and that has fundamentally changed the passenger experience."
'Liberation of capital'
Mr Strambi said privatising Australia's airports had resulted in a "liberation of capital from the public purse", and that private owners - a group of investors, mostly superannuation funds, in Melbourne's case - had greater discipline and accountability than governments would have.
Sydney Airport had the highest profit margin for aeronautical services last year at 46.7 per cent, followed by Brisbane Airport (44.9 per cent), Melbourne (38.2 per cent) and Perth (33.5 per cent), according to the ACCC.
Melbourne Airport estimates passenger numbers will double to 70 million a year over the next two decades and that it will overtake Sydney Airport as the nation's busiest.
It hopes to have a third runway operational by 2022 to deal with that growth.
These guys are really just interested in running car parks.
Shopping centres are the second priority.
Shopping centres are the second priority.