48 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION DECEMBER 2017
traffic controllers were giving priority
to bigger aircraft.
For members of the Australian
Business Aviation Association
(ABAA), the peak industry body
representing business jet owners and
operators in this country, it was a long
sought-after change.
“It’s been an ongoing issue for us
for about five or six years but we’ve
only just in the last 12 months got it
resolved,” ABAA chief executive David
Bell told Australian Aviation in an
interview.
“We now have equal footing. If you
are off blocks on time and you have got
a slot at the other end you won’t be held
up any more than other people will be
held up for weather or single runway
operations or whatever it is.“We’ve had no negative feedback
at all from anybody – the airlines,
Airservices – it’s worked very
smoothly. We just fit into the Australian
traffic flow.”PERTH AIRPORT IMPROVEMENTS HINGE
ON QANTAS TERMINAL CHANGE
Gains have been harder to come by at
Perth Airport in terms of off-terminal
processing of international business jet
arrivals.
Staff shortages at Australian Border
Force (ABF), the government agency
tasked with processing incoming and
outgoing international travellers, meant
off-terminal processing at Perth’s
fixed-base operations (FBOs) has been
virtually non-existent.
Instead, arriving passengers andA better deal
for business jet
operators
UP?
T
here have been some important
wins for business jet owners and
operators in Australia over the
past 12 months regarding access
to airports and availability of
off-terminal customs processing
for international arrivals.
The first came in early 2017,
when a new Airservices Assessment
of Priorities (AIP) was released that
provided business jets subject to
air traffic control the same priority
as other, often larger aircraft when
operating to the large capital city
airports.
Previously, business jets were
lumped together with general aviation
and had a lower priority than other
operators. This made it hard to get
landing and takeoff times because airWRITER: JORDAN CHONG