Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with NT Airports CEO Tony Edmondstone

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with NT Airports CEO Tony Edmondstone · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf. Join the conversation with Katie Wolf.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: You are our eyes and ears in the territory Mixed
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: one oh four point nine.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: We know that there is now a new direct flight
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: between Darwin and Camber. It took off well yesterday and
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: joining us on the line to tell us a little
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: bit more about the situation. NT Airport's Development Group Chief
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Executive Tony Edmondston, Good morning, Tony.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie Tony.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: How did we go yesterday with this first flight? Oh?
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Look, isn't isn't it fabulous to be a territory And
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: right now, you know, the weather's great, the tourism industry
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: is booming, and we've got plenty of events and you
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: know we get now a chance to bring a few
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: people from Camber up directly without having to route via
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: other ports.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what's the demand like this for this roach?
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah? So looking, yesterday's flight was about seventy percent full.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: And the big game changer and this is playing out
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: across Australia is Quantus and a few other airlines are
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: moving to a smaller, skinnier aircraft and that means the
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: economic of sort of moving seventy or eighty people on
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: a flight. Is much better than what it has historically been.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is good news.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: It's certainly good news for us as territorians to be
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: able to travel around a little bit more directly.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: How many days a week will this service operate?
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: So over the dry season this will be five days
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: a week. And if you think sort of how this
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: will sort of actively play out is you know, it's
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: dry season up here, which is fantastic for the Southerners
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: to come north, and it's you know, the ski fields
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: and nations capital during the same time for us to
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: head south. So when wet season comes around, that'll probably
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: drop back to three times.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: A week, okay, but it will still continue to run
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: throughout the wet season at this stage as well.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, this is this is a permanent route that will
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: sort of ramp up during our peak tourist season and
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: then you have still continue to service during the wet.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: And Tony, How are things going at the moment, We'll
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: firstly with the Darwin Airport, how's the capacity.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, we've got a few teating challenges, but we're
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: probably about eighty five to ninety percent of pre COVID
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: level from a domestic capacity perspective. Wow, forward looking, you know,
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: in the next couple of months, you know, subject to
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: hotspots and other bits and pieces, we expect that to
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: be sort of one hundred and five to one hundred
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: and ten percent of pre COVID. So we're pretty busy, Tony.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Would you have ever anticipated, you know, at the start
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: of COVID, when things were as frightening as they were,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: that you would be at this point so soon after.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Typically when we're going through those events, you sort
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: of say, what's the best case scenario we could possibly consider?
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: And I think we're playing it right now.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's quite unbelievable and it is absolutely wonderful to
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: see that.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: You know, Darwin is just a buzz ah.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Look at it again. You know if you look outside
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: that the sky is blue at thirty two in the
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: day and nineteen at night and there is no better
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: part of Australia right now.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Now, how are things in Alice Springs, because I know
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: obviously you've got the airport there as well.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: How are their numbers going?
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: No, sore, they're a bit so we're sort of eighty
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: to eighty five of pre COVID. They're sitting just by
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: lowered around seventy five percent of pre covide, so they're going, okay, obviously,
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: you know there's a desire to hit the natural wonders
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: when you can't go overseas.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly right.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: And Tony, how do you manage I know that it
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: can be difficult when these hot spots are declared. Is
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: it getting a little bit easier to deal with that
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: type of thing?
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: It's becoming more routine. I wouldn't necessarily jump to it's easier,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: because you know, they all throw up their own challenges,
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: particularly when aircraft are in the air when there's a
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: hot spot declared. Yeah, you know, we're becoming better at
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: it and more agile at it, so you know, you
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: just adapt to the change on the day.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: And it's obviously quite difficult as well, you know, particularly
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: for those passengers who are pretty upset, you know, if
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: they're on a flight and then they find out that
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: they've got to go into quarantine.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look at that. You know again, you know for
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: all of our staff, and I know that Indiant Health
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: team is sort of at the front line as well.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: You know, there's some challenges when people jump on planes
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: expecting to sort of walk out and enjoy the territory
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: and then quickly turned around. Yeah, you know, we know
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: where's a you know, where as a destination need to
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: be empathetic to when those things happen.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: And Tony a question that I'm just thinking of as
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: we're on the line there. I know that a couple
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: of or a few weeks ago we'd spoken to the
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Health Minister and she had said that down the track
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: we would be in a situation where some of those
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: international repatriation flights would not be going through the Raft
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: base or not be going through the Raft side of
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: the airport, i should say, and at some point transitioning
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: through the Darwin Airport. Has there been much movement in
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: that space.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, we've been working maybe for probably two or
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: three months now with both the federal government and the
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: NT government on how we can help facilitate this. And
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: the context of this, Cadie is, you know, we know
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: that there's a lot of international Australians that are sort
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: of stranded overseas at the moment, just trying to come home.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: You know, we know there's restrictions around Australia around the
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: sheer number of people that can come on flights into
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: Australia and if we can do a little party in
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: you know, bringing more people home, and that's that's where
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: this sort of comes to, then will help in any
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: way we can. Right having said that, we've got a
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: lot of work to do to ensure that there's clear
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: separation between potentially international arrivals and our domestic passengers and
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: that there's no way of risk of transfer. So that
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: means some physical barriers have to be constructed, some other
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: works and air conditioning changes. That just takes time.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it sounds like it could be expensive work,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: but hopefully something that the FEDS will be picking the
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: bill up for.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well in parts. But again, you know, we look
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: at it and say, you know, as a broader corporate citizen,
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: we you know, we have a role to play in
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: helping bring Ossie's home. That might cost us a little
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: bit of money through that process, but it's the right
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: thing to do. We also need to make sure that
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: we don't put other territory ins at risk, so you know,
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: there's a balance between the two. Yeah, you know, we're
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: not jeopardizing safety at all, and you know, we know
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: when the works are completed, will do a thorer order
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: to make sure that it is safe before we allow
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: internationals on our side.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and Tony, no doubt some people listening will be
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: thinking to themselves, Oh, I feel a little bit concerned
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: about that. I mean, what is your message for those
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: that are maybe feeling worried that it heightens the risk
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: of a spread of COVID.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we're again there'll be physical barriers between and
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: I don't mean sort of soft tensile barriers. There's walls
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: being constructed, there's different pathways, there's different econditioning, so there's
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: no way of interaction between international and domestic through that process.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: If it makes people feel any more comfortable. You know,
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: I'm sitting at the airport and I'm mixing in and
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: around that term at all every day. So you know,
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: if anyone is probably most exposed, it's myself and my team,
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: and you know, we're not prepared to put them at
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: risk anywhere.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: And Tony, has that work already started or is it
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: far off?
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: Oh, we've started doing some things. There's a lot more
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: work to be done around getting it actually right, you know,
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: looking in I think that's sort of probably five or
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: six weeks of work. So you know, the earliest we're
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: probably looking at now is around the end of July
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: from a timeframe. Again, you know, we just need to
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: make sure that it's done appropriately and tested and that
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: you know, again that the ventilation systems are working the
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: way they should work.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Well, Tony Edmondston, the.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: CEO of the NTI Airport's Development Group, We really appreciate
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: your time today.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having a chat with us. Thanks Katie,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: you are listening to.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Mix one oh four point nine and yeah, how fascinating
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: that we're already at eighty five between eighty five to
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: ninety percent of pre COVID in terms of capacity out
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: there at the airport. It's pretty phenomenal when you think
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: about it. And you know, when we look at what
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: situation we're in a year ago compared to now, it
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: is quite amazing that we've got that many people coming
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: to the Northern Territory at the moment. And you know,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: and then when you take out places like Victoria for
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks, in Melbourne for the last
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: few weeks, and even the situation in New South Wales
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: preventing or stopping some people from wanting to travel it's
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: wonderful to see the airport operating at that capacity. Now,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: there are a lot of you getting in contact about
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: these speeding fines. I've got one here, it says Katie,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: what about the points lost and those that lost their
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: license even their jobs because of a loss of license?
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Good, very good point.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: Another one here from Mark in twee Hi, Katie, regarding
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: those speeding fines. I'd like to know how and exactly
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: when they found out about the incorrect calibrations. In addition,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I call bs on money and points not getting reimbursed.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Sounds like too much work for them as all the
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: info is on their system, says Mark. Yeah, that is
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: not good to hear at all. And yeah, look Mark,
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: I think this sounds like there's going to be more
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: to this story, no doubt about it.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: There's another one here.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: This is in relation to the airport, and it said, well,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: there was a one hour forty five minute wait for
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: all flights arriving yesterday. My old dad waited on the
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: tarmac for forty five minutes, then another hour. Terrible, I
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: waited two hours for him, says that text. I'm sorry
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: to hear that. That is not good news, particularly for
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: your Dad, your elderly dad. I'm not sure exactly what
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: the reasoning is behind that. I know, when we caught
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: up with the Transport Workers Union just a little while ago,
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: they had said that it was because there was changes
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: with quantas with their baggage handling and things like that.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: But I'm not one hundred percent sure that is something
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: that we can certainly take as a question to ask