The Virgin Independent Pilots Association (VIPA) has submitted a list of key recommendations to the federal government’s review of Australian air safety, including the fast-tracking of a second airport for the Sydney basin.
Representatives from VIPA met with members of the Aviation Safety Regulation Review (ASRR) in Brisbane on February 12 to present their submission to the review. VIPA says the submission identified a “raft of critical issues” currently impacting the Australian aviation industry, including a need for more funding for critical airport infrastructure.
“VIPA’s members believe there is a strong case for supporting the development of a second airport facility within the Sydney area, given ongoing capacity pressures at Kingsford Smith,” VIPA President, Captain John Lyons, said in a statement. “A second facility is urgently needed to meet the mounting challenges of rising passenger numbers, apron congestion, delays with aircraft pushbacks and the lack of vacant gates for arriving aircraft. Secondary issues relating to landside transport, public transport, access roads and car parking are combining to create significant bottlenecks.”
The VIPA submission also called for a restructuring of CASA, the “cutting of red tape in the general aviation sector” and the removal of specific CASA regulations that relate to pilots’ flight and duty time.
