Parochialism rules at Australia’s international airports.

With Etihad having been granted rights to fly into Australia and into Sydney, the first airline in more than a year, Melbourne and Brisbane airports have climbed on the parochialism bandwagon claiming they are facing what some media reports say is a “capacity crunch”.

With major international airlines continuing to reduce services to the two airports, chosing to concentrate on Sydney, the harsh reality of loads and profit, it appears though that the Federal Government has refused access to airlines that want to lift services to the other eastern capitals.

Brisbane and Melbourne airports may have a point and have stepped up their calls for the Federal Government to grant foreign carriers such as Emirates and Qatar Airways more access in Australia, with Brisbane Airport warning that the crisis will be compounded by Singapore Airlines’ plans to reduce capacity in April, saying they are facing a capacity crunch.

Media reports say that despite the airports reporting record international passenger numbers, they have suffered a fall in available airline seats over the past year and there are concerns demand could soon outstrip supply on some routes, angering tourism bodies, which claim the lack of capacity is constraining visitor numbers.

While Singapore Airlines blamed cuts to its Brisbane services from three to two a day on delays in the delivery of the A380, Malaysia Airlines also plans to redirect its flights to Brisbane through Sydney in March, effectively cutting capacity into the city, with these cuts coming on top of the 8% cut in available international seats into Brisbane Airport in the 12 months to April.

Melbourne Airport faces the loss of Austrian Airlines in March after the withdrawal of British Airways last year, with Sydney Airport, now handling more than 45% of international arrivals, appears to have steered clear of the debate.

The Federal Government is due to hold talks with Emirates in March, during which the airline will press for a doubling of its flights to 98 a week, with an Emirates spokesman saying, “We need additional flights to accommodate Australia’s growth potential,” – he did not say where too though.

The Qatar Government is also due to hold talks in the next few months after its initial request for daily flights into Melbourne was rejected last year and Federal Transport Minister Mark Vaile’s office failed to comment to media on the “capacity crunch”.

The reality of the airline business is that if well established carriers on the route are reducing services or pulling out of Brisbane and Melbourne, which I suppose suggests that they can’t make those routes work, the question, then why do carriers like Etihad and Qatar think they can?

The other plain fact is that there is simply more demand, yield, revenue, networks and every other measure there is in aviation, and out of Sydney that make straighforward commercial sense for the airlines, while of course, perhaps surprisingly for Brisbane and Melbourne, reflecting what travellers appear to want, that is to fly into Australia’s major airport, leading national hub and iconic city.  Not rocket science I am afraid guys!

Report by The Mole