10-26-2020, 06:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-26-2020, 06:27 PM by thorn bird.)
Unfortunately Sandy, regarding airports, the ethos that they are vital pieces of national infrastructure has been subverted to be viewed as assets that must provide a monetary return.
If you go back to the 1940'ies we had bugger all in the way of dedicated airports. That fact became evident with the outbreak of world war two and the likelihood of Japanese invasion. Suddenly it was apparent that we had better get busy investing in building airports, either that or start learning Japanese. So the bulldozers were put to work, didn't take much, as aircraft in those times didn't require much, just a strip of gravel. At wars end and with the development of modern aircraft, a coat of bitumen was required, maybe some airport lighting, but when you look at the ACN's for most country airports they still require dispensations for heavier modern aircraft, they were never built with the future in mind, they just had band aids slapped on them. The commonwealth funded most of this and the costs of maintaining them via the local councils. When they pulled the pin on funding vital national infrastructure because the lessons of history were ignored and handed the airports back to councils, one could perhaps sympathise with the councils for being saddled with having to fund something that should be a national responsibility.
There are consultative entities out there advising councils on how to gain a return on their airports. Their imperatives are to advise on how to make money not the support of aviation. Its not surprising that their advice is screw as much money out of aviation as possible and if that doesn't work bring in the property developers if you happen to be lucky enough to be in a location where land values are at a premium.
This warped ideology has turned Vital Infrastructure into potential profit centres and the purpose of having an airport completely lost in the pursuit of the holy dollar.
The corruption that has been allowed to occur with the whole airports issue, from the primaries to the secondaries to the local council airports should be the subject of a royal commission, the Australian public has been duped and cheated by the bureaucrats, and are the poorer for it, not just in monetary terms, which make the Sydney western airports land deal scandal look like small change, but also their connection with the whole of Australia.
If you go back to the 1940'ies we had bugger all in the way of dedicated airports. That fact became evident with the outbreak of world war two and the likelihood of Japanese invasion. Suddenly it was apparent that we had better get busy investing in building airports, either that or start learning Japanese. So the bulldozers were put to work, didn't take much, as aircraft in those times didn't require much, just a strip of gravel. At wars end and with the development of modern aircraft, a coat of bitumen was required, maybe some airport lighting, but when you look at the ACN's for most country airports they still require dispensations for heavier modern aircraft, they were never built with the future in mind, they just had band aids slapped on them. The commonwealth funded most of this and the costs of maintaining them via the local councils. When they pulled the pin on funding vital national infrastructure because the lessons of history were ignored and handed the airports back to councils, one could perhaps sympathise with the councils for being saddled with having to fund something that should be a national responsibility.
There are consultative entities out there advising councils on how to gain a return on their airports. Their imperatives are to advise on how to make money not the support of aviation. Its not surprising that their advice is screw as much money out of aviation as possible and if that doesn't work bring in the property developers if you happen to be lucky enough to be in a location where land values are at a premium.
This warped ideology has turned Vital Infrastructure into potential profit centres and the purpose of having an airport completely lost in the pursuit of the holy dollar.
The corruption that has been allowed to occur with the whole airports issue, from the primaries to the secondaries to the local council airports should be the subject of a royal commission, the Australian public has been duped and cheated by the bureaucrats, and are the poorer for it, not just in monetary terms, which make the Sydney western airports land deal scandal look like small change, but also their connection with the whole of Australia.