The Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) has backed calls to open up Australia's air traffic control to competition from private companies.
In a statement released yesterday, the RAAA said they fully supported Maurice Newman, chairman of the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Council is his call open up key functions of Airservices Australia to competition.
“Airservices Australia is a government monopoly service provider in serious need of an independent review”, said RAAA Chair Jim Davis. "There is no reason why functions such as control towers and airfield fire-fighting services should not be opened up to competition.
“If Airservices Australia was opened up to private sector competition, or even private/public partnerships, there could be more efficient air traffic control and significant public savings, with no decrease in safety.”
Currently, Airservices Australia has a monopoly as the only entity CASA has licensed to provide air traffic and fire-fighting services. In many other countries, including the UK, services are open to tenders from private companies.
"Monopolies inevitably take advantage of their market position to the detriment of their customers," the RAAA statement concludes. "Airservices Australia is no different and should be exposed to the mitigating influences of the market."
In November 1999, then Minister for Transport and Regional Services John Anderson promised to phase in competition for air traffic services, a policy that seems to have since been abandoned by successive federal Coalition governments.
Estimates in the aviation industry suggest that the cost of providing air traffic services could be halved if the system was open to competition.