Airservices kybosh the safety issue

Mr Russell—I did hear it, and we are very well aware of the Jandakot issue. I anticipate you are going to
ask a question about safety.

Senator ADAMS—Yes, I am.

Mr Russell—I would ask our General Manager, Safety, Jason Harfield, to take those questions.

Senator ADAMS—Would you consider that Jandakot airport airspace is unsafe with regard to its proximity
to Perth airport?

Mr Harfield—In a word, no. It is no different from the airspace configurations that you have with Sydney
and Bankstown airports or Adelaide with Parafield airport. It is no different. There is no doubt that there are
some operational complexities associated with the airport, but it is nothing that is not managed.

Senator ADAMS—Will the arrival of the new Airbus 380 into service from Perth Airport cause Jandakot
airport to close?

Mr Harfield—It would be too early to speculate, but I would say no. With the airbus at the moment, there
is work being done on the weight turbulence that comes off the aircraft. At the moment what is proposed and
the distance for an arrival into Perth with Jandakot airport is within those tolerances. However, there will be
other ways to get it to actually work. I would say that the A380 in itself would not close Jandakot airport.

Senator ADAMS—Is it true that Jandakot airport has nearly reached its movement limit and that there is no
room for expansion?

Mr Harfield—From our point of view for air traffic that is not the case. It is one of the busiest airports in
Australia at the moment movement wise, but there is still capacity for extra movements from an air traffic
service point of view. I could not comment from the infrastructure point of view.

Senator ADAMS—I was going to ask you about the plan that is there for the fourth runway, but obviously
nothing is happening in that respect.

Mr Russell—We are well aware of development plans and master plans of the major airports, particularly
where we operate throughout Australia. We are also aware of the public discussion in Western Australia about
this airport. It was our view that a fourth runway at Jandakot would make sense in terms of the natural
development of the airport. I might say that was before the current issue came up so much in Western
Australia.

Senator ADAMS—Thank you very much. I just wanted to clarify those issues. As a senator, with
constituents right throughout Western Australia and a lot of people flying aircraft, there are lots of problems
going on and I just wanted to be clear what the issues were.

Mr Russell—We met with the Royal Aero Club of Western Australia based in Jandakot only a couple of
months ago. In fact, we had a public meeting which a couple of hundred people came to to talk over some of
the issues. Clearly, this was a major one.

CHAIR—Did you get the impression that they wanted Jandakot to stay where it was?

Mr Russell—We got the distinct impression.

CHAIR—Is this what you call an exercise in greed and not need?

Mr Russell—I got that impression as well.

CHAIR—Are there any further questions? I regret to inform you that you can go home.

Mr Russell—Thank you.

CHAIR—We will have Regional Services and then we might all go home.