Recently announced as part of the airport’s new Draft Master Plan, the plan to introduce RPT services at Bankstown was first aired as early as 2001 and follows the lead of a rising number of European and US GA airports that are now being utilised for RPT operations.
Kim Ellis, CEO of BAC Airports, which owns both Bankstown and Camden airports, explains that Bankstown’s aircraft traffic forecast for 2029/30 anticipates scheduled passenger services representing 2.5 per cent of total traffic, or four per cent of current traffic, equating to 32 movements a day.
Speaking to Australian Flying, Ellis stresses that the GA community shouldn’t be concerned about the introduction of RPT services encroaching on Bankstown GA operations.
“There’s no question that Bankstown will remain the premier general aviation airport in Australia – that’s our plan,” he says.
“The more general aviation from my perspective the better, because it’s the good base that the airport is built on.”
One of the GA question marks the RPT move raises concerns the separation required from passenger aircraft to all other aircraft.
ATC at Bankstown requires approximately a two-minute separation between aircraft on the ground, meaning the maximum forecast of 32 passenger aircraft per day would all up result in what Ellis conservatively estimates as an hour and a half of lost flying time.
Taking this on board, Ellis says passenger flights will be scheduled so as to reduce interference with regular operations.
“Generally the passenger operations would work with a peak from six to nine in the morning, then a peak in the evening from six to nine, and then the remainder spread around.
"Those aren’t high pressure areas on training activity – most of our [training] flights occur between nine and six.
“So with a separation of two minutes on the ground the impact it has on [training organisations] is fairly limited, no more than the current corporate jets or ATRs operating freight operations.
"So from an operating perspective it’s very manageable. So it’s a workable model that fits in quite well.”
Ellis signals that the increased revenue Bankstown will accrue from its RPT operations will be reinvested in GA training incentives and infrastructure development.
“The aim is to actually find a way to create additional funds that we can put back into general aviation,” Ellis explains.
“This Master Plan actually increases the amount of land available for general avaition operations.
“We’ve taken some areas that were previously commercial allocation and turned those over to mixed-use, which means we can keep general aviation operating there.
“One of the things that we’re looking at as part of this passenger operation – and the board have approved this – is to actually try and take some of the money made from passenger services and develop some form of general aviation trust or operating fund that we can use to assist students to do training.
“If we keep the general aviation on the airport and we keep it going well, then it’s to our advantage.”
With the Sydney-Melbourne corridor being one of the busiest for air traffic in the world, Moorabbin Airport is also weighing up the introduction of RPT services.
All three of Moorabbin’s Master Plans to date, including the current plan, released in April 2009 and covering strategies through to 2029, call for the introduction of some form of RPT.
Moorabbin’s General Manager Phil McConnell says the opportunity clearly exists for RPT services between Moorabbin and various capital cities following market research over the last decade.
However he admits that the prospect introduces practical issues including the possibility of extension and strengthening of one runway.
Besides the issue of cost, this would require a Major Development Plan with associated public consultation – a very “political” process.
McConnell believes any potential future RPT services at Moorabbin could be safely integrated without substantially infringing on current GA operations.
“There’s room for both,” he affirms.
“Before we even started we would do a full safety study and I would do a full consultation with industry.
“The sort of operation suitable for Moorabbin is essentially a business shuttle and this is mainly early morning and later afternoon/evening flights.
"Flight training does not really start until nine AM, which would be after most RPT operations.
"There would be separation issues to work through and clearly we would need to work closely with CASA, Airservices and industry, but I’m confident that there are ways that they can co-exist in safety.”
Elsewhere around the country, the introduction of RPT services is covered in Archerfield Airport’s existing Master Plan and will be further pushed for in the new plan, to be submitted to Government by November 2010.
While stressing that there’s no guarantee it will definitely happen, Archerfield General Manager Cpt. Des Ross says scheduled passenger transport is, “certainly part of the vision”.
“It’s an ambition that we do have, and the practicality of it is being studied,” Ross explains.
“In the consideration as to whether or not we put our hands up and ask for permission or approval to do it is going to be the necessary infrastructure upgrades.
“It’s quite a large project, if it were to happen, but we believe it is possible sometime in the future.”
Ross is quick to point out that, while there is a desire to introduce some scheduled transport operations at Archerfield, this won’t be at the expense of training operations.
“It depends on the level [of RPT services],” he says.
“If you’re only talking about a dozen flights a day it’d have a minimal impact, but if it went up higher than that then you’d have to balance.
"And this is certainly a consideration.
"We do have a desire to see some scheduled transport operations, but at the same time we don’t want to impact seriously on the training operations either.”
Jandakot Airport’s Operations and Technical Manager Darryl Evans told Australian Flying that, while the prospect has been investigated, RPT is not in the works for Jandakot in the near future due to infrastructure limitations.