ISSUES

The Regional Aviation Association of Australia's (RAAA) mission is to promote and maintain the viability of regional aviation (not just regional airlines). Our slogan is “serving regional aviation, and through it the people and businesses of regional Australia”. We see it as important to our role to lobby government to develop more effective policies to ensure the continuation of a viable regional aviation industry as a critical component part of the national infrastructure.

Introduction

Over 4 million Australian's rely on regional air services. Without these services the social and economic existence of regional and remote communities and many regional industries are at risk. Servicing this need are the regional operators who service more communities in Australia than the major domestic operators and provide:

• essential access to markets and services;

• vital aeromedical assistance and health services;

• transport & freight services to the resource industry;

• bushfire and Search & Rescue operations;

• exploration via airborne surveying;

• pipeline and other infrastructure inspections;

• law enforcement & border patrols;

• business & recreational travel;

• airport facilities; and

• flight training.

As highlighted above, regional operators are a major contributor to our nation with their true value transcending the dollar value traditionally associated to the nations GDP. While it may no longer be all doom and gloom in the regional aviation industry, there are more than enough serious issues affecting us and looming in the near future to give any prospective investor in our industry cause for concern.

A reality is that increasing regulatory, security, fuel, and infrastructure costs combined with a declining rural population, the effects of the ongoing drought, and the planned introduction of a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme could threaten the existence of these services.

As a nation, we must address the major issues, which include:

• changing rural populations,

• increasing CASA safety regulatory compliance costs,

• increasing security compliance costs,

• technical staff shortages,

• aging aircraft, and

• deteriorating rural airports.