Avalon boss wants second airport parity

THE head of Avalon Airport is calling for parity in Australia’s aviation future, arguing a new paper released by the federal government is tilted in favour of Sydney’s second airport.

Released by Transport Minister Catherine King earlier this month, the Aviation Green Paper (AGP) aims to inform the direction for Australia’s aviation sector from now until

2050, and will be used to develop the formal policy in the Aviation White Paper next year.

Avalon Airport chief executive officer Tony Brun said many of his issues about the AGP related to the Western Sydney Airport (WSA), which is under construction and is expected to open by 2026.

“We are obviously concerned the AGP has a bias towards prioritising the Western Sydney Airport (WSA) which is referenced on numerous occasions,” he said.

“It is noted Melbourne Avalon Airport has a 60-minute drive catchment of 3.3 million people, which is 800,00 more than WSA.

“[We] further note Wyndham is Australia’s fastest growing metropolitan local government and Greater Geelong one of Australia’s fastest growing regional local government areas.

“That catchment is forecast to reach 4.6 million people by 2036, giving Avalon one of the largest airport catchments in Australia.”

He said the western Melbourne-Geelong corridor was also home to the Port of Melbourne, Port of Geelong and the base of the nation’s most significant industry, warehousing and logistics industries.

“It is of paramount importance that the Commonwealth Government recognises the growth of Melbourne West-Geelong corridor as a nationally significant region, and that any policy, planning and resourcing of Commonwealth services provided to Melbourne Avalon Airport, which is at the core of this economic region, should be equivalent to that proposed for WSA.”

AirAsia decided in mid-2022 to move its operations from Avalon back to Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport in November of that year, and Avalon has been unable to secure an overseas airline since then.

Mr Brun acknowledged recent media commentary about the number of flights to and from Australia operated by airlines such as Qantas and Qatar Airway, and said any change to policy must be handled carefully.

“It is worth noting that at present, Qatar, like other airlines from bilateral constrained countries, can fly unlimited services to Darwin, Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Canberra, Hobart, Adelaide, the Western Sydney Airport and Melbourne Avalon Airport.

“There is a significant risk that if Australia moves to a completely unregulated space, airlines will consolidate to primarily to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport and to Melbourne Tullamarine Airport.

“This will have a catastrophic impact to competition and choice for consumers across Australia.

“It could represent the ultimate case of unintended consequences from poor policy decision-making.”

He said Avalon would be making a submission to the Aviation Green Paper raising these issues and others, including the need for the federal government to give equal weight to aviation freight and to support “critical infrastructure such as road and rail investment”.