FIFO aircraft operations given a free pass?
 

Now before anyone gets bent out of shape, I am very happy for our colleagues in the FIFO charter world. It is great that they are busy and still in "secure" employment. However I cannot for the life of me understand the justification of exposing cabin crew, terminal staff and pilots to "large" numbers of passengers on the justification that digging iron ore out of the ground is essential.

Before you respond think about the other restrictions. No more than five people at a wedding, which is the minimum essential number required, the couple, a celebrant and two witnesses. Funerals can only be attended by ten people. No more than two people to gather in groups.
Meanwhile sixty or seventy on a Fokker 100 flying ninety minutes to a mine site is seen as acceptable. The terminal aggregation is also an issue.

If one of these cabin crew or terminal staff get sick then it is a workplace injury, not sick leave. Is this considered a safe workplace? Consider the link below...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-...k-nsw/12113712

Difficult to say that the mines will keep our economy running given the very low royalties paid to government. I just find it a glaring double standard and a free pass to the mining companies.

What “free pass” are you referring to Icarus? Compared to current QF /Virgin , adhoc charter pilots, cabin crew check in staff?

Perth had 34 scheduled arrivals today between 12-1, Sydney had 4 in the same time. The mining boom pretty much saved Australia financially from the worst of the GFC. With the falling $AUD and steady commodity prices and climbing gold, the miners are doing reasonably well for now and I think any attempt to shut it down would be met with great opposition from Canberra. Have herd some mines are considering increasing the work swings to 4 weeks on at a time instead of 1 or 2 to reduce cross contamination chances.

He’s spot on social distancing etc all these rules just ignored when it suits. Apply in one place but not the other.

Like masks, work for doctors nurses but hey if a healthy person puts one on in Australia it could make them sick. Must reckon we’re all idiots or something.

Just put your hand up and say “we’ve run out of masks” instead of bull****ting people.

Round 1: 130 billion dollars vs 8 weeks of borders staying open. It’s an absolute scandal and we will pay for those 8 weeks for the rest of our lives. Don’t expect to see your super until 80.

....if you have any.

Bill Bloggs is told no you cannot go to the cinema, you cannot go the local bar or restaurant, you can walk in the park with ONE other person and that is it but if Bill Bloggs works on a mine he can jump in a Fokker with 60-70 other people, no problem. Where is the social distancing? What about in the terminal? Compared to QF and VA, come on, they are hardly flying anyone right now.
He cannot go to his daughters wedding or his uncles funeral but he can fly to a mine and dig dirt because that is essential. Come on get real.

You can mention cinemas, weddings all you like. I see people at airline terminals, some FiFO, some traveling QF, some traveling Virgin, some a handful of other operators. Whether they are traveling for Mine charter, Resource support RPT or other employment reasons I don’t see the “ free pass” reasoning.Social distancing measures put in place by the mines require additional aircraft. They’d love to see the loads your quoting.

The mines are practicing ‘social distancing’ very well from what I’ve seen.

Max 60 pax in F100, 75 in B717, 114 in B737 ie: spare seat between all pax.

Airport terminal seating in PER has been changed around and you can no longer sit next to someone.

Medical checks prior to going through security and again on arrival into site.

Went to Woolies today and it was virtually ops normal there...

Ok the free pass means, We have lost the freedom to travel via vehicle, bicycle, boat outside of our region (let alone interstate) to go to a beach shack -

but a fIFO employee can leave a Sydney cluster hotspot fly into Perth then overnight and fly into regions with the most compromised immune systems.


You can’t have more than 4 people in any isle at Bunnings

but you can fit 60+ into a aluminium tube about the same dimensions as a Bunnings isle.

I see no difference to 10, 20, 50, 60 people in an aluminum tube flying anywhere else. But you are free to believe what ever want.

A NSW FIFO worker can not do what your saying:


https://cmewa.com.au/uncategorised/n...fifo-from-nsw/

Calm down champ.

If everything shuts up shop the virus will be the least of your problems. Suicide, domestic violence and petty crime could skyrocket.

In Queensland you’re not even aloud to go out fishing in your Tinnie FFS!! A great big fu#king ocean around you, yet you can’t sit out there and fish??????? Bureaucracy gone mad.

QLD had tightened up on FIFO with effect 2359 Friday. Also on the conditions applying when they get to the worksite.

If you think the economy is stuffed now, try shutting down mining and resources.....

Over $300B, Australia’s number 1 & 2 exports are all that’s left. Everything else is stuffed.

But by all means, shut it down and see what happens.

Dude, the mine sites are all over this. Can you imagine what one infected person would to to a camp?

The mining companies are doing temperature checks prior to workers going through security, the terminals in Perth have blocked off seating in the terminals to enhance “social distancing” and you can expect to see flights being upgauged to allow for increased separation.

No one is taking this lightly and these are the industries keeping this country afloat.

As you were.

Don’t worry about FIFO, your local suburban and inner city construction sites are taking zero measures..... at least the mines and FIFO operations are following known precautionary practices.

You probably don't want to hear that coal was just listed and the world's most expensive fossil fuel. Too bad we bet the house on it, I wonder what will save us this time?

Gold.......

Isn’t that exactly what we want to hear???

There are also rumours that Brazillian iron ore operations have just been infected with the virus; they will undoubtedly carry on for now - but may be forced to shut down in the coming weeks which will make the iron ore price climb well into the FLs!

The weak AUD means mining revenues are soaring, which correlates with the increases of mining staff by the thousands on the West Coast.

AAhh, no, you can't...

I am a NSW FIFO worker and I cannot get back to site for my next swing Well, technically I can - but I'll spend the entire swing in quarantine in my room, I cannot go on site, I cannot go to the mess for tucker, I cannot go to the gym, you get the idea.... And then my swing is over so I fly home and repeat the process in NSW....

The company is allocating two weeks leave for those in that boat, and after that, you'll need to start dipping into your own leave allocation. Talking to Perth-based colleagues, the companies are taking this extremely seriously, in come cases, specifically chartering aircraft vs the previously-normal share-an-RPT to help control who sits where and enforce distancing so much as you can in a tin tube, coupled with the aforementioned temperature checks before and after boarding, changing rosters on site to minimise interaction with other shifts and going from a 2/1 roster to 2/2. Woodside are reportedly offering interstate FIFO's extraordinary sums to relocate to WA for the duration of the lock-down to avoid the interstate quarantine issues.

When you consider mining royalties account for ~20% of WA's revenue in the 2018/19FY, keeping the dirt moving is unfortunately essential, particularly when you have a huge unexpected hole blown in your budget.