Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Airport Development Group Executive GM Operations Robert Porter

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Katie Woolf spoke with Airport Development Group Executive GM Operations Robert Porter · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And as we know, the first Australian Olympic athletes traveling
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: home to Australia will they arrived at the Darwin Airport
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  Speaker 1: yesterday on that charted Quantus flight. And we also know
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  Speaker 1: that there has been that significant work completed at the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: terminal in order to achieve physical and atmospheric separation of
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  Speaker 1: the screening and processing area. So they were, as I understand,
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  Speaker 1: the first international arrivals, our Olympians that were able to
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  Speaker 1: go through that new or that part which has been
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  Speaker 1: changed at the airport rather than the raft base. But
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  Speaker 1: joining us on the line to tell us a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more is the Airport Development Group's Executive General Manager
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  Speaker 1: of Operations, Rob Porter. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Rob, Yeah, good morning Katie. How are you doing? Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Really well, Thanks so much for your time. Rob. Talk
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  Speaker 1: us through the Olympic arrivals yesterday. They went through the airport,
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  Speaker 1: didn't they But there's a separate area.
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  Speaker 2: Now, yes, I did. They arrived in early out a
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  Speaker 2: little bit earlier at five o'clock yesterday morning, so we're
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  Speaker 2: all up early to greet them, to to take them
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  Speaker 2: through the through all the process that they required to do,
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  Speaker 2: but certainly through the changes that we've made through the terminal.
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  Speaker 1: Now, were you guys pretty excited to have the Olympians arriving.
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  Speaker 1: I know we're very used to international arrivals, but we
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  Speaker 1: had some people on board that flight with well, with
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  Speaker 1: certainly some extra baggage gold medals and well silver and
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  Speaker 1: bronze as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, I think. You know, it was absolutely
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  Speaker 2: wonderful to see the stream of green and gold come
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  Speaker 2: off the plane and then make their way through our terminal.
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  Speaker 2: Bit star struck standing by watching the watching the process
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  Speaker 2: unfold with some talented young individuals there passing through our
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  Speaker 2: terminal was absolutely amazing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and did it all go pretty smoothly, as you know,
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  Speaker 1: as I mentioned before, I think and correct me if
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  Speaker 1: I'm wrong, they're the first ones to really go through
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  Speaker 1: that area of the airport where you've put those separations
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  Speaker 1: and atmospheric separations in place.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're the first group through. And I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: all of the agencies and the commonf agencies and the
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  Speaker 2: government and health authorities, we were so pleased with just
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  Speaker 2: how well that process worked. You know, the teams and
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  Speaker 2: all the people moved through there very quickly, able to
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  Speaker 2: collect their bags, go through the normal border processing, go
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  Speaker 2: through the border health unit checks, then through biosecurity, then
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  Speaker 2: off to onto the buses and out to Howard Springs.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, it was almost like military like precision.
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  Speaker 2: Noting that we've moved it away from the raft base
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  Speaker 2: that everyone pulled together. It was fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: And Rob, is there another international flight that was either
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  Speaker 1: arrived a bit earlier this morning or was set to
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  Speaker 1: arrive this morning?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so in about ten minutes we're expecting a flight
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  Speaker 2: from London to.
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  Speaker 1: Arrive, okay, and they'll be going through that same process
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  Speaker 1: as well. So this is the way that things are
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  Speaker 1: happening from now on.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly right. All of the flights that come
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  Speaker 2: through the terminal, all the repatriation plights, will go through
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  Speaker 2: the exact same process.
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  Speaker 1: Rob, can you talk us through what work has had
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  Speaker 1: to happen there at the terminal?
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  Speaker 2: Yes? I think firstly, we had to create some physical
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  Speaker 2: walls and create a corridor or tunnel that takes the
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  Speaker 2: passengers out to the buses, so different exit points so
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  Speaker 2: they dance it now straight out onto the streets so
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  Speaker 2: they can basically walk straight onto the bus. We had
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  Speaker 2: the independent air conditioning years put in. So there's quite
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  Speaker 2: a bit of work in the air conditioning system to
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  Speaker 2: ensure that the air was separate from the domestic terminal,
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  Speaker 2: and we created a posurized zone in the terminal to
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  Speaker 2: ensure that that air you cann't go into any other
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  Speaker 2: other part of the terminal. So that was quite complex,
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  Speaker 2: but a simple net from there. It was one entry
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  Speaker 2: point of the terminal and then an exit butt point,
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  Speaker 2: and then ensuring that all the people that have to
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  Speaker 2: work there are safe as well. We've got dotting stations
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  Speaker 2: and doffing stations and heaps and heaps of PPE cleaning
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  Speaker 2: over the top cleaning. You know, we want the gold
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  Speaker 2: standing cleaning, so we're cleaning everything. So yeah, lots of
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  Speaker 2: lots of things in place. But yeah, look, I've just
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  Speaker 2: got to applaud all of those people involved because it's
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  Speaker 2: been fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: And do those arrivals, I'm assuming that they do come
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  Speaker 1: into contact with staff, and then those staff would have
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  Speaker 1: to be you know, have extra protections in place.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, so that you know, we absolutely want
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  Speaker 2: to avoid any physical contact. So we're still maintaining the
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  Speaker 2: physical separation, but all the staff are wearing PPE, so
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  Speaker 2: you know, face shields, masks, gowns, gloves, and lots of sanitizer.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, look, I think there's great separation between those
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  Speaker 2: arriving and those that work in the site. And of
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  Speaker 2: course all about all of our staff are required to
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  Speaker 2: go through a testing regime as well, and all those
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  Speaker 2: that are involved go through a PCR or COVID testing
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  Speaker 2: regime every seven days or three days, depending on their
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  Speaker 2: task or their job.
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  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, I'm fast running out of time, Rob, but I
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  Speaker 1: also wanted to ask you. We know that Quantas made
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  Speaker 1: that announcement yesterday about two and a half thousand staff
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  Speaker 1: are going to be stood down. We know that there
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  Speaker 1: would be some real changes I'm assuming to the flight
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  Speaker 1: schedules coming into Darwin. Given the fact that Sydney is
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  Speaker 1: in lockdown at the moment, what capacity are we sitting
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  Speaker 1: at when we talk about those arrivals.
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  Speaker 2: So we're having a really strong dry season, so we're
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  Speaker 2: still seeing good numbers coming through our terminal, with the
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  Speaker 2: exception of Sydney for obvious reasons, but we're still seeing
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  Speaker 2: response from other states are still able to travel to
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  Speaker 2: the territory. So you know, we're in pretty good shape,
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  Speaker 2: and you know we're hoping that you see he can
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  Speaker 2: solved that problem and you know, we can get a
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  Speaker 2: hold of the delta strains so that people can continue
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  Speaker 2: to come to the territory.
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  Speaker 1: Well Airport Development Group Executive General Manager, Rob Porter, we
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  Speaker 1: really appreciate your time this morning, Thanks so much for
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  Speaker 1: coming on. Thanks, thank you. Rob Porter there, who is
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  Speaker 1: the executive general Manager of Operations at the Airport Development