[Peetwo]

The Bronny factor??

Thought this article from 'that man' again, might be better represented here - Why? Well IMO
it highlights the potential can of worms underlying the corporate/executive government travel rorts...err arrangements. Which is invariably organised by minions (& signed off on by Mandarins) & could very easily be revealed if required.

Example if the Forsyth review or Executive trough dwellers hose out happens to be further obfuscated & delayed...   

Bronwyn Bishop quits: No mates rates as luxury flies  

• by: EAN HIGGINS
  
• From: The Australian
  
• August 03, 2015 12:00AM
  

Reporter
Sydney




Brad Edwards at Ballina Airport with his Cessna Citation. ‘You could get it done a lot cheaper.’ Source: News Corp Australia
 
Air charter operators say the $6000 taxpayer-funded flight Bronwyn Bishop took as Speaker from Sydney to Nowra on the NSW south coast was up to twice or more the going rate for such a 160km trip.  

The flight, in November, was the second that aviation industry sources told The Australian could have been made for far less cost, the first revealed being a $5227 charter of a helicopter to take Mrs Bishop from Melbourne to Geelong for a Liberal fundraiser. The Geelong charter was with Bendigo, Victoria, company My Jet Aviation, which employs as a lobbyist ­Andrew Gibbs, a close friend of Mrs Bishop and her chief of staff, Damien Jones.

Mr Jones did not respond to questions from The Australian yesterday, but at the weekend he was quoted as saying the Nowra flight, which Mrs Bishop took for another fundraiser, “could well have been” also done through My Jet Aviation, and said it did not involve a corporate jet but a propeller-­driven aircraft.

The principal and chief pilot of Edwards Aviation based in Armidale in NSW, Brad Edwards, who derives his main business from flying politicians on charters in his propeller and light jet aircraft, said $6000 was “very expensive” for such a flight, especially in a propeller aircraft. “You could get it done a lot cheaper,” he said.

Mr Edwards said he could have taken Mrs Bishop and, if she chose, two aides on such a trip in his Beechcraft Baron piston twin-­engine aircraft, to Nowra for $2500.

Even in one of his light corporate jets, a Cessna Citation, Mr ­Edwards said, “$3500 should be able to do it”.

He said the main components of such a charter of the Citation would be a charge of 45 minutes flying time for the jet, coming to $2000, two Sydney landing fees of $500, and $500 for the pilot’s wages.

Mr Edwards and another aviation figure told The Australian the Geelong trip could also have been made for far less money, if through no other means than by chartering a less expensive helicopter.

They noted that the Agusta 109 helicopter understood to have been chartered by Ms Bishop was a $US6 million ($8.2m) top-of-the line piece of machinery, having twin engines and space for several passengers in great comfort.

The managing director of Skypac Aviation based at Sydney’s Bankstown airport, Rick Pegus, who also operates light jet and piston-engine charter aircraft, also said $6000 for a trip from Sydney to Nowra would be well above going market rates.

“If you’re paying $6000 for a piston aircraft, it sounds like it’s come up from Melbourne,” Mr Pegus said.

He said he could have done such a charter for between $3000 and $4000 in his piston aircraft.

Marc De Stoop, who operates a charter service with two Dassault Falcon 20 jets, said he could have operated such a charter from Bankstown, where his operation is based, to Nowra for $7000 to $8000. While this places such a charter in the same price range as Mrs Bishop’s trip, the Falcon is a medium-size jet aircraft of airline size, capable of taking nine passengers.

   
Luxury flies in retirement...


MTF...P2