Fire bill for Bali flights
 

Sat "West Australian"

Fire bill for Bali flights

WA-BASED airline will have to pay for its own firefighting service at Karratha airport before it can start a weekly passenger service to Bali.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority put the onus on Austasia Airlines to provide a fire and rescue service when it approved 737 jets landing on Karratha's narrow runway yesterday.

Last week, Austasia announced it would lease a 158-seat 737-400 jet from an Indonesian airline to fly from Denpasar to Broome, on to Karratha, then back to Bali.

It set the inaugural flight for Friday, March 5, with seats and holiday packages on sale from January 25.

Austasia managing director Ed Turner said he was considering several options for a fire service ranging from $500 to $5000 per flight.

He hoped to have an agreement with a third party that would meet CASA's requirements within a week.

The private owners of Broome International Airport provide its firefighting service while the Federal Government removed its service from Karratha airport six months ago.

Mr Turner said all incoming passengers would disembark and go through immigration and Customs procedures at Broome.

The leg from Broome to Karratha was not classified as a domestic flight because passengers were unable to buy seats separately, he said.

Karratha passengers will not be able to stop over in Broome nor Broome passengers in Karratha.

"We're not permitted carriage between the two Australian ports," Mr Turner said.

Qantas operates 737s on its Karratha-Perth route but it does not have to provide a fire fighting service because it is a domestic flight.

Shire of Roebourne president Kevin Richards said the shire considered providing a firefighting service for Karratha airport but the estimated cost of $1.4 million was too much for ratepayers to finance.

Mr Richards said the shire would consider lowering landing fees to help the new airline.

Ansett flew from Broome to Denpasar from 2000-01 and Merpati from Port Hedland to Denpasar from 1997-98.

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So the moral of the story is that domestic flights never need a fire service, but put the same type of aircraft on an international service and it might crash and need a fire service.

Yes Minister lives on in the land of Oz.