1 September 2010

Canberra airport to go international within 2 years

| DeadlySchnauzer
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Crikey reports that Canberra Airport plans to go international faster than expected.

Also mentioned is the fact that the airport already has the capability to handle the larger 747 and A380 jets. People who are currently disturbed by the noise of the little ole 737’s must be looking forward to the prospect of late night international A380 flights.

That aside, is this whole thing a pipe dream, or can Canberra really support larger scale international flight operations driven by cheap bus tickets to/from Sydney?

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dvaey said :

harvyk1 said :

Also Deadly Schnauzer, Canberra Airport already has some AQIS \ Customs guys out there, mainly for diplomats, as well as special or VIP flights.

I thought diplomats and such werent subject to customs, quarantine and immigration processes?

http://www.dfat.gov.au/protocol/protocol_guidelines/14.html suggests that quite a few of these foreign special VIPs would be exempt.

You thought wrong. I have done three tours of 34 Squadron VIP Transport and they are subject to the same
S*** as everyone else.
The only exception perhaps being body cavity searches which are carried out “less vigorously” on visiting heads of state/popes….

It’s been 2 years. So I guess not.

Yet.

Captain RAAF8:02 am 15 Oct 10

Are we expecting tourists to come here or is this just so all the public servants can get outta Dodge without having to transit through the nations toilet?

I think the cart is well before the horse in that possibility.

First, you must give people a reason for coming here and sure, the AWM is a worthy drawcard for the military history nuts but that’s where it ends.

This place is great for old people who like trees but they won’t see anything here they can’t see in a million other places.

We need drawcards, in fact the entire country needs drawcards because if we think we can keep up with the big boys on the strength of a bridge, a rock, an opera house and a reef that you can only see from orbit, then our tourism industry will just die a slow death………..oh’, too late.

If it’s not going to bring the dollars in and only take them out, then why bother.

Hells_Bells74 said :

Curious – Are there any/many countries/continents where their (Nation’s) capital cities don’t have an international airport?

Washington DC only has Reagan Airport in the city itself (Dulles is some distance away outside of DC). Reagan only has international flights where there is pre-clearance for immigration – that is, it has no immigration or customs facilities at all.

DeadlySchnauzer10:20 am 02 Sep 10

tommy said :

About the best benefit is that it’ll probably convert the ACT to a marginal electorate – as aircraft noise will become a major issue. So at least we’ll get some Federal and local govt attention…

Good times!

Changes are bound to happen as urban development starts crowding out the flight paths… but I wouldn’t hold my breath. The common complaint is that Sydney airport has a curfew but Canberra doesn’t… however that overlooks the fact that Sydney has only had a curfew in place for ~ 13 years, and it took decades of complaining by a far larger and more marginal populace for that to occur.

farq said :

The economic benefit to the entire region will be fantastic.

If the flight path stays as it is we can all enjoy the benefits of the economic growth without having to hear a thing!

What exactly are the economic benefits we’ll all share? CIA gets their money I guess, their 24×7 freight participants would get their money (probably Sydney based), airlines might make some money but what additional employment will that provide?

ACT govt won’t make much – just have to cope with the noise, wear and tear on the roads, non-contribution to infrastructure by the airport etc.

All the inner suburbs of Canberra will get is 24×7 freight and passenger plane noise. You don’t notice the noise so much during the day – but it’s quite audible in Hackett or Campbell in the cold morning (ie all the dash8’s winding up).

About the best benefit is that it’ll probably convert the ACT to a marginal electorate – as aircraft noise will become a major issue. So at least we’ll get some Federal and local govt attention…

Good times!

dvaey said :

I thought diplomats and such werent subject to customs, quarantine and immigration processes?

They are excempt to a degree, they still need to go through immi, and AQIS will still take things which pose a risk. What wouldn’t happen is fines for not declaring etc…

Hells_Bells74 said :

Curious – Are there any/many countries/continents where their (Nation’s) capital cities don’t have an international airport?

Pretoria doesn’t seem to have its own international airport; closest one is in Johannesburg. Also, there don’t seem to be international airports at Mbabane or Dodoma.

As alluded to by farnarkler (#7), the national capital cities of the European micronations – Vaduz, Andorra La Vella, San Marino, and Monaco-Ville don’t have international (or national!) airports either!!

So, Canberra Airport is in very strange company indeed.

Hence, more power to the CIA, I say (that’s Canberra International Airport).

The economic benefit to the entire region will be fantastic.

If the flight path stays as it is we can all enjoy the benefits of the economic growth without having to hear a thing!

Hells_Bells74 said :

Curious – Are there any/many countries/continents where their (Nation’s) capital cities don’t have an international airport?

Yes well, fair comment.

I don’t have an issue with this, in fact I fully support anything that brings more to the region. There’s been enough taken away from Canberra over the years by the ‘namby pamby’s’ who believe Canberra still should be the same as it was in 1952.

Lets hope all this is all up and running before some idiot builds a slum under the flight path.

Hells Beslls, Leichtenstein and Monaco are the only capitals I can think of that don’t have their own airport.

It would be nice if CBR could have a few flights per week going to Singapore and Hong Kong and maybe some charter flights to Bali.

harvyk1 said :

Also Deadly Schnauzer, Canberra Airport already has some AQIS \ Customs guys out there, mainly for diplomats, as well as special or VIP flights.

I thought diplomats and such werent subject to customs, quarantine and immigration processes?

http://www.dfat.gov.au/protocol/protocol_guidelines/14.html suggests that quite a few of these foreign special VIPs would be exempt.

#3 there really isn’t that much overhead. Adelaide does this for example, where certain aerobridges can be closed off for customs etc. Also alot Customs staff in Canberra multiskill and many go and work in an airport for a few weeks every now and then.

As for using Canberra as an international airport, its more about identifying what flights to Sydney have a high proportion of non sydney residents on them. If i fly to say Asia from Canberra I don’t care what city i connect via. Same as if you were flying to say Adelaide from NZ, does it matter if you flew via Sydney, Melbourne or Canberra other than personal preferences etc.

I was quite surprised that the Darwin-Canberra flight already gets a lot of passengers who transfer onto Melbourne. Its easy enough to schedule flights so more passengers transfer via Canberra than at present. It would take the load off Sydney a little.

I’ll believe this when I see it.

Also Deadly Schnauzer, Canberra Airport already has some AQIS \ Customs guys out there, mainly for diplomats, as well as special or VIP flights. I doubt it would be much of an overhead, it’d probably be like the international area of Adelaide airport, the gates turn back into domestic when there are no international flights departing.

DeadlySchnauzer10:53 am 01 Sep 10

So according to the article it looks like the initial plans are 4 or 5 flights to NZ per week and 3 to Asia. From a business POV can you really justify all the additional overhead internaional flights need (customs, security etc) for only 7 or 8 flights a week?

Hells_Bells7410:50 am 01 Sep 10

Curious – Are there any/many countries/continents where their (Nation’s) capital cities don’t have an international airport?

Cheap buses to/from Sydney are great, except that as a tourist your only option to leave the airport is a $25 cab or a $16 bus.

Also, one issue Ive found when catching a bus to Sydney for a flight, is you need to allow 3hrs before departure for check-in. Add to that a 3hr bus ride, and with the first bus leaving at 6am dont expect to be catching any morning international flights. However, if the airfares for Canberra-Sydney flights came down, I could imagine Canberra working well as a connecting hub.

I think theres a huge potential market from Canberra visitors and residents, but expecting people to sit on a cattle bus for 3hrs before jumping onboard their luxurious A380 wont make the region look that much more attractive.

I also wonder which airline(s) will be the first to touch the Canberra International market. This close to international flights beginning, Im surprised the ACT govt or Snow corp havent been touting the big name companies that are coming to town, that we ACT residents will be supporting through their tax-breaks.

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