The RAAA has 24 Ordinary Members (AOC holders) and 47 Associate/Affiliate Members. The RAAA’s AOC members directly employ over 2,500 Australians, many in regional areas. On an annual basis, the RAAA’s AOC members jointly turnover more than $1b, carry well in excess of 2 million passengers and move over 23 million kilograms of freight. RAAA Members provide critically important access for rural and remote Australians to the markets, services and facilities available in or through the major cities. They thus represent a critical component of the national infrastructure on which rural and remote Australians depend for their social and economic well-being.

Air Operator Certificates (AOC)

The aviation industry is regulated by the Australian Government with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) charged by the Government with overseeing industry safety and regulations. Under the regulations to operate a commercial service CASA must issue the operator an Aircraft Operators Certificate (AOC) appropriately endorsed for the work an organisation is intending to undertake.

According to the Operators Database on the CASA website, as at the end of September 2009 the following number of AOC's are currently on issue for the following licence categories:

• Air Ambulance Operators - 85 AOC's

• Charter Operators - 601 AOC's

• Flight Training Operators - 210 AOC's

• Regular Public Transport (RPT) Operators - 41 AOC's

It should be noted that just because an organisation has an AOC issued for a particular function it does not indicate that the organisation is currently actively participating in that category of operation. Additionally, an operator may have an AOC covering several categories of operation.

Further information about AOC's on issue may be found on the CASA website at www.casa.gov.au.

RPT Services in Regional & Remote Parts of Australia

Due to personal circumstances for many Australian's the availability of air travel is constrained to those flights which are open to the general public. This means that everyone associated to ensuring effective air services in Australia needs to look at this issue not only from a commercial stand point but also from the stand point of a social equality. This includes Governments at all levels of Australian politics, Government Agencies, airports and operators.

It is a sad fact, however, that consecutive governments at all levels since deregulation of the aviation industry appear to have taken the proactive stance that air services in Australia will be based solely on a market approach. Their main argument has been that increased competition will support a more efficient and possibly cheaper availability of services for all Australians.

The effectiveness of this policy by Government in sustaining the industry has been ineffective. This was highlighted in figures released by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport, & Regional Economics (BITRE) Report 115, Air Transport services in regional Australia: trends and access. This report was extended in the BITRE Information Sheet 35, Air transport trends in regional Australia (2009 Update).

"Chart 1" highlights the number of RPT operators available for use by the general public in regional and remote Australia from January 1984 to December 2008.

Chart 1

As highlighted in this chart, the number of operators with a RPT services was 53 in 1984, peaked at 58 Operators in 1993, and since then has decreased to the dismal level of 27 operators providing RPT services in 2008. In investigations of the source data we discovered that over this time frame there were only 8 years that showed a net increase year on year in the number of RPT operators and 14 years had a net decrease in the number of RPT operators servicing regional and remote parts of Australia. We are not aware of any data that explains the reason why out of the 162 operators that have attempted to undertake RPT operations in regional and remote parts of Australia why only 27 remain. However, what is highlighted is that of the 27 remaining RPT operators; only 4 have provided RPT services for the entire period; a further 7 have provided RPT services since 2000; and a further 10 have provided RPT services since 2005.

Airports in Regional & Remote Australia

Aerodromes in Australia are again regulated by the Australian Government with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) charged by the Government with overseeing industry safety and regulations. Under the regulations (CASR Part 139) there are, as at September 2009, 184 Certified Aerodromes and 121 Registered Aerodromes in Australia on the CASA Register. Both certified and registered areodromes are defined as "Aerodromes with frequent RPT or Charter with more than 30 passengers". At time of writing we had no statistics on the number of other Aerodromes in Australia classified as "more than 9 but not more than 30 passengers" or on Aerdromes "covered by the proposed CASR 135".

The effects of the privatisation of the Airports by the Government combined with the information on RPT operations above have had a flow on affect to airports being serviced by a regular RPT service. This was also highlighted in the BITRE report and information sheet mentioned above.

"Chart 2" highlights the number of airports serviced by an RPT service in regional and remote Australia from January 1984 to December 2008. The data does not include Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth or Brisbane local area airports.

Chart 2

In line with the decline of the number of operators providing a RPT service there has been a decline in the number of airports having a RPT service. As Chart 2 shows this has reduced from 277 airports having a RPT service to 138 airports in 2008. Using the remoteness category specified by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this reduction is broken into:   Year Category 1984 2000 2008 Inner regional 39 33 21 Outer regional 52 41 29 Remote 43 21 19 Very Remote 142 84 69 These reductions are by natural progression also seen in the number of air routes in Australia available to the Australian community and international visitors:   Year Routes 1984 2000 2008 Between major cities and regional areas 203 170 165 Between regional areas 613 320 215

Conclusion

Australia is a large country with maps not truely recognising visually the distance between different destination. For example, Bourke NSW to Sydney NSW is about 800kms, Alice Springs NT to Darwin NT is about 1,500kms, Mt Isa Qld to Townsville Qld is about 900kms, and Pt Hedland WA to Perth WA is about 1,700kms. Distances that take many hours travelling by car or train.

Reliable RPT services give people the peace of mind that they can routinely obtain access to essential medical, financial, and educational services and also be able to get away to see friends and family without having to undertake an arduous car or train trip.

RAAA Members operating RPT services provide a quality service to city dwellers, international visitors and people in the bush. This is in the light that aircraft are an expensive asset to purchase, operate, plus maintain and the economic realities this entails.

It is understood that given market forces not all RPT routes would of survived. With improved road conditions in some areas and modern vehicles the necessity for short route RPT services is deminished if not removed. However, it could be argued that there has been an over reduction of airports with RPT services in regional and remote Australia.

The above data and commentary is but the tip of the mountain but does highlight that:

• Governments at all levels need to focus on the implications of these figures,

• the market based approach that the Government has been relying on for air services in Australia is not effective in all situations,

• equitable air transport should be available to all Australian regardless of where they live - not just those living in the cities and other major centres, and

• Governments at all levels need to start looking at aviation services in regional and remote parts of Australia from a social justice perspective and start working with the regional aviation industry to find solutions to the implications above.

At time of writing the aviation industry is impatiently awaiting the Aviation White Paper. This is intended to be the blueprint for the future of the aviation industry in Australia. The RAAA has made detailed submissions to this and other discussions paper by different Government Departments. As detailed in these submissions, as an industry we are not looking for handouts. Rather we wish to partner with Government to reverse the trends described here. Lets hope the Government's White Paper it is not a missed opportunity!