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MEDIA RELEASES DEMISE OF AIRLINK Independent candidate for the seat of Tamworth in the forthcoming NSW State election Peter Draper is very concerned by the demise of yet another regional air service. "As the former Regional Manager for Hazelton Airlines, I have personally experienced a similar situation to that currently being faced by Inverell and Glen Innes, and I fully understand the distress that both communities are facing. Gunnedah lost their air service following the demise of Yanda Airlines, then shortly after that Ansett collapsed. The Administrators appointed to Hazelton Airlines then gave Tamworth and Armidale a schedule that simply did not meet the needs of the businessperson who needed a full day in Sydney," said Mr Draper. "Qantas (through Air Link), have put in place a similar service to Inverell and Glen Innes, yet offer up the inevitable old excuse that not enough people supported the service to warrant an ongoing service. Anybody with a basic understanding of the needs of business travellers would realise that the services offered were certain to fail from the day the schedules were announced," said Mr Draper. "If a regional airline can't attract the business traveller, it simply can't sustain the service." In Mr Draper's opinion, the key to retaining air services, as well as providing competition in major rural and regional centre's lies with the NSW State Government. Prior to the Ansett collapse the State Governments travel contract went to tender, with Ansett and its partners tendering against Qantas for the contract. When Ansett collapsed and the contract came due, it was simply rolled over, with Qantas retaining the contract. This gave pricing certainty to the Government, guaranteed income to Qantas, but the decision has significantly disadvantaged Regional Express who purchased the combined Hazelton and Kendell operations. Gunnedah Council has been very pro-active in attempting to attract another air provider to the community, but an understanding of the crucial issues by the State Government would be of great benefit in resolving the current situation. "The NSW Government has invested heavily in giving Regional Express a fighting chance in our state, yet they apparently fail to realise that an equitable share of their travel contract is critical to the long term success of the company," said Mr Draper. "If the Government were to equally share their travel contract between Qantas and Regional Express, then let both airlines compete on an equal playing field in regional NSW, I am certain that REX will be a long term contributor to regional aviation in NSW." " If I am elected to represent the electorate of Tamworth in March next year, one of the key issues I intend pursuing will be the Government travel contract," commented Mr Draper. "I firmly believe competitive services could be restored to our local area if the Government recognised the impact of their current policy," he concluded. End Release |