ATIA says it is working to obtain a seat on Sydney Airport’s new-look government-run Compliance Committee to act as a key conduit between airlines, Australia’s busiest airport and the overriding sentiment of the travelling public.
Speaking to travelBulletin, ATIA CEO Dean Long said while the travel industry doesn’t have a commercial interest in the management of slots, it can bring extensive insights into the flow-on impact from how travellers are affected by changes to those slots.
“At the moment, the dearth of insights is meaning mass confusion and really, the reason for why the performance is the way that it is, particularly on certain routes, that’s what is causing the public debate,” Long said.
ATIA’s chief said the association was hugely supportive of a mechanism which would provide timely, transparent reasons on why flight cancellations occur, a change that will set up the policy debate for the next five years.
Long added there was no evidence to suggest airlines were playing a direct role in allocating and managing their own slots, however the Terms of Reference for Airport Coordination Australia are “extremely narrow”, leading to decisions that do suit the commercial interests of its owners.
“Once we expand the Terms of Reference for that Compliance Committee, I think we’ll start to see that [performance] sharpen and we’ll also see where the issues are with cancellations and delays which will allow us to make improvements.
“If it’s air services, then they need a massive increase in funding to get their workforce up and going,” Long said.
“If it’s airports that aren’t running their maintenance programs at an appropriate level, then let’s look at that, and if it’s airlines changing their schedules for commercial reasons (TD 24 Jan), let’s look at that.”
The federal government’s recently released Aviation White Paper detailed the formation of a new government body which would manage slot allocation, application and retention at Sydney Airport.
Currently, these are overseen by Airport Coordination Australia (ACA), an organisation funded and co-owned by Qantas Group, Virgin Australia, Sydney Airport itself and the Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA).
If it was given a seat on any new Compliance Committee, ATIA said it would bring key long-term data on cancellation rates and patterns and provide input to drive better outcomes for travellers.
“Probably more importantly is that because we represent so many people who purchase their travel through one of our members, we’ll also have good insights into the way those with a commercial interest are presenting that information back up [to the government].
“We’ll be able to have that detailed look at what’s going on, overlaying that with feedback and impact on customers [and] it uniquely positions us to really drive some better outcomes and some reforms to the system.”
