Minister won't take sides in runway row

TRANSPORT minister Anthony Albanese has called on the parties involved in the Brisbane Airport runway discussions to "act like adults" but has refused to take a side.

The Federal minister spoke to 4BC Radio on Friday and said he called the Brisbane Airport Corporation into Parliament House because he was so concerned over Brisbane Airport’s significant delays.

However, Mr Albanese also refused to place the blame solely on the BAC and stated that all parties need to “get on with getting it done”.

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“What I’ve said to all the parties privately and I am now saying publicly is they need to act like adults and just get it done,” he said.

“This infrastructure does need to be built. I’ve made that very clear to the Brisbane Airport Corporation.

"They have a lease from the Commonwealth and part of that is an obligation to make sure the proper planning for growth is there.

“I called in Brisbane Airport Corporation to Parliament House in Canberra as well as sitting down with them in Brisbane. I’ve also spoken to the airlines though about not being intransigent, about making sure these differences are resolved like adults.”

Mr Albanese told 4BC that airlines also need to be held responsible because of the costs that will be caused to customers.

“There needs to be as bit common sense here,” he said.

“If you have, whether it be a Qantas or a Virgin jet flying around in circles, using up fuel, that’s a cost. That’s a cost to the airline that at some point in time, in order for the airlines to be profitable, is passed on to the users of the airline concerned.

“I expect to see these issues resolved and resolved quickly. The businesses of Brisbane and the residents of Brisbane indeed demand that this happened and it’s a reasonable demand.”

Earlier, Brisbane Airport Corporation spokeswoman Leonie Vandeven told ABC radio that the BAC were “aware” of the challenges involved and are working to find a resolution.

She said the delays being experienced are not something the airport can control alone.

“Airports need to work with airlines and industries to help manage delays,” she said.

“If we could wave a magic wand and make it go away we would. It is something we are working very closely with the industry on to try and manage.

“We are aware of it, we’re very, very aware of the issue, and we’re doing our absolute best to try and manage it moving forward.”

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Air passengers set to wear runway tax

Brisbane Airport customers may end up paying extra. Source: The Courier-Mail

BRISBANE Airport Corporation says it is preparing to ask the competition watchdog to approve an increase in the passenger landing charge to fund a new parallel runway.

BAC chairman Bill Grant said talks with airlines to help fund the much-needed project were reaching "the end of the line" and the next stop would be the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

But the process could take between a year or two, delaying the runway opening beyond 2020 and worsening the congestion that has made Brisbane the worst-performing major airport in the nation.

He said the airlines had repeatedly rejected the alternative of a special $2.50 to $3.50 levy instead of the landing charge.

"The average punter is not going to stop flying to Sydney or Melbourne or Newcastle or wherever for $2.50," Mr Grant said.

"It's a cup of coffee. Airline prices are probably at historically low rates."

Would you be prepared to pay extra? Let us know in the comments section below.

BAC has demanded that Qantas, Virgin and other airlines fund a quarter of the $1.3 billion project cost by paying higher landing charges over the eight years it will take to construct the runway.

But a Qantas spokesman said the airline refused to collect a surcharge on behalf of BAC.

Brisbane Airport boss Bill Grant wants passengers to pay a surcharge on their air tickets to pay for the new runway, but airlines say it won't fly.

"Call it what you will - a levy, a surcharge - it is still airline passengers pre-funding the new runway," the spokesman said.

"Qantas is opposed to pre-funding infrastructure when our passengers won't see the benefits for many, many years."

The Courier-Mail's Brisbane Late Again campaign has focused on the urgent need for a runway following years of delays and broken promises.

Have you been delayed flying into Brisbane airport? Tweet your experience at #BNELATEAGAIN or leave a comment below

Mr Grant said the funding model was the only option because BAC could not afford to build the runway.

Brisbane Airport pulls in more than $1.3 million a day in revenue, including close to $250,000 a day for car parking fees alone.

The airport, which handled 21.5 million passengers last year, reported an operating profit of almost $170 million and paid $50 million in distributions to its shareholders, mostly Australian superannuation and investment funds and the Dutch-owned Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

"We've been through plenty of alternatives but none of them are palatable. You couldn't borrow the money, simple as that," Mr Grant said.

Mr Grant said BAC canvassed the idea of state or federal governments lending the money or guaranteeing loans: "That would be very helpful but we've spoken to them both and the answer's no, so we've got on with it."

Instead, BAC has tried to convince airlines to add on a surcharge in protracted negotiations.

"We had a strategy and most people thought the airlines would say the sooner you get on with this and build it the better," Mr Grant said. "Instead, it was like a [pass the parcel game at a] six-year-old's birthday party."

Qantas and Virgin both outlined their opposition to pre-funding in submissions to a Productivity Commission two years ago but Mr Grant says airport chiefs believed it was "negotiating bluster".

"BAC was much more confident in those days back in 2010, '11 and '12 that there would be a commercial agreement with the airlines. That proved not to be correct."

Mr Grant said the airlines had also repeatedly rejected a proposed passenger levy during the past 18 months.

The BAC boss said clearly identifying the fee as a runway surcharge on tickets would spare the airlines any customer backlash, and he did not believe the travelling public would object to paying $2.50 or $3.50 more for their fare if they knew it was going towards alleviating the growing congestion and delays.

Last night, 41 per cent of the 60 domestic flights landing at Brisbane Airport during the peak time of 5-8pm were more than 15 minutes late.

The most-delayed flights were JQ889 from Mackay at 70 minutes behind schedule, and TT821 from Sydney at 45 minutes late.

One-third of flights arrived on schedule and 15 per cent were early.

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Plane skids off runway, airport closed

Teams of Czech and Polish experts are working to free a Czech Boeing 737 airplane from a muddy field. Picture: AP Source: AP

AN airport spokesman says teams of experts are working to free a Boeing 737 airplane from a muddy field after it skidded off the runway while landing in Katowice, southern Poland.

The plane from the Czech Travel Service airline skidded late Tuesday and went some 20 meters off the Pyrzowice airport runway and ran into wet ground, where its front landing gear sank.

None of the 176 passengers and six crew members was hurt. They had arrived from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

Airport spokesman Cezary Orzech said the airport remains closed while Czech experts work to pull the plane out.

All flights have been redirected to nearby Krakow.

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Guess who predicted runway calamity?

DEPUTY Premier Jeff Seeney has tabled 40-pages of tweets in State Parliament about the Brisbane Airport delays and noted not one was posted by Federal Labor MP Kevin Rudd.

For the third day in a row, Mr Seeney has blamed Mr Rudd for the ongoing delays at the airport, because of his opposition to building a second runway.

Although Mr Rudd has denied he has actively opposed the infrastructure since 2001, Mr Seeney said it was no coincidence that the runway had not been built since the Federal Labor MP was elected Prime Minister in 2007.

Today Mr Seeney said The Courier-Mail campaign for action on the issue had elicited a big response on Twitter with hundreds of tweets posted using the hash tag #bnelateagain.

"But there is not one tweet from Kevin Rudd. Kevin Rudd is Australia's foremost political twitterer," said Mr Seeney to raucous laughter in Parliament.

"Kevin Rudd has put out 7703 tweets but he can't do one about the Brisbane Airport issue. Not one. He follows 370,000 people, and he has over a million followers. None of them know what Kevin Rudd thinks about the Brisbane Airport issue because Kevin Rudd has become Twitter mute.

"He has become shy about expressing his view about an issue that 600 or 700 other Queenslanders have felt the need to express a view about."

He said Queenslanders deserved to hear from Kevin Rudd about what he thinks should happen at Brisbane Airport.

Earlier, it was reported that airport chiefs warned in 1999 that Brisbane faced an economic disaster if a new parallel runway was not built within eight years.

Airport delays

But despite their own dire predictions, Brisbane Airport Corporation put the vital project into a 13-year holding pattern.

Site works did not begin until last year and now its construction is up in the air again, caught in a deadlock over funding, while frustrated passengers fume over worsening flight congestion.

In an exclusive interview, former long-time chief executive officer Koen Rooijmans has revealed that despite more than a decade of planning the new runway, the airport's operators never set a firm date to start work.

As far back as 1999, Mr Rooijmans warned that the hub would hit capacity by 2007. "I think it would be a major disaster in economic development in this area (not to act)," he said at the time.

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Have you experienced delays at Brisbane Airport? Share your story on Twitter with the hashtag #BNELATEAGAIN or email cmonline@qnp.newsltd.com.au

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He was headhunted from Dutch airline KLM to lead the airport's development after BAC paid the Federal Government $1.4 billion in 1997 for a 49-year lease with a 50-year option.

At his first press conference in 1997, Mr Rooijmans immediately flagged the need for a second major runway.

". . . In this business, you have to think and plan far ahead in time," he said.

Brisbane Airport's existing runways, and the proposed parallel runway.

Jane Fynes-Clinton: Make airports pay for travel delays

"The timing was always depending on the real pace of growth, not a fixed forecast. Passenger movements and airline growth fluctuate from year to year," he said.

Mr Rooijmans also confirmed that the airport operator never developed a clear proposal for how they would pay for the runway.

Frequent flyer TV presenter mad at delays

"There was no fixed model for funding," he said.

Construction started on the parallel runway last August but work could grind to a halt by the middle of this year with the BAC demanding airlines contribute a quarter of the total cost through increased per-passenger landing charges.

The airlines refuse, saying it is unreasonable to expect them and passengers to pay for infrastructure for years before it can be used.

BAC says without an agreement, it will not commit to the $500 million phase two construction.

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Have you experienced delays at Brisbane Airport? Share your story on Twitter with the hashtag #BNELATEAGAIN or email cmonline@qnp.newsltd.com.au

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Yesterday Treasurer Tim Nicholls joined Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney in blaming the Federal Government for Brisbane Airport's woes.

In Parliament, Mr Seeney said the Federal Government had failed to ensure BAC had put services ahead of profit.

Mr Nicholls said the airport had to live up to its obligation to deliver the second runway.

Federal Transport and Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese has put the BAC on notice that it could be in breach of its lease obligations if it fails to deliver the runway on time.

Additional reporting, Daryl Passmore

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Fed-up Newman wants fix to runway row

An artist's impression of what Brisbane Airport in Queensland may look like in the future: Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

PREMIER Campbell Newman has slammed delays at Brisbane Airport and urged the Federal Government to intervene to end the impasse between the operators and airlines over funding of a new runway.

Speaking on Radio 4BC, Mr Newman said the delays were "out of control".

Airport chief: Why airlines should help airport pay for new runway

"Anyone who flies regularly will tell you, you're just delayed. Every flight to Brisbane I've been on, you end up circling for at least 30-minutes. This is in the afternoon," Mr Newman said.

What do you think? Have your say in the comments section at the end of this page

"The cost to business and the economy must be immense."

In response to The Courier-Mail's report that a new parallel runway could be delayed beyond 2020 if airlines do not agree to start paying up now, Mr Newman said an agreement must be reached.

"Please we need an end to the impasse," said the Premier.

"I don't know if the Federal Government themselves have powers to come in and intervene now... but if there is some power mechanism for the Federal Government to come and say "righto we're making a call here", the sooner the better."

He said the privately owned Brisbane Airport Corporation should be aware the current situation was "hurting their brand".

"I say to the airport, you are hurting your brand, you are frustrating your customers who come through, you are forcing people to take their journeys in a different way," Mr Newman said.

"I'm sure for example for many people, they look at going in and out of the Gold Coast."

Brisbane Airport Corporation wants airlines to start paying for the new runway way but the airlines do not way to pay until it is operational in 2020.

On Monday, The Courier-Mail revealed the BAC would delay the next stage of works on the runway if the funding stand-off was not resolved.

Adding to congestion at the increasingly busy airport, has been the closure of the cross runway since September.

It is not due to reopen until next month, weather permitting.

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