Page 1421 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 11 May 1994
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You would double that if you wanted to say total flights, but I talk about people who arrive. Cairns has 90,000 people living there and they get 330,000 international passengers from seven international carriers. Hobart has two international carriers. They have 190,000 people and about 4,500 people arrive from overseas each year. Darwin has six carriers. They have about 80,000 people and about 44,000 arrive from overseas each year.
It is interesting to look at the scope there is for international passengers into Canberra. At the moment international visitors to Canberra make up about 8 to 10 per cent of all the people who visit Australia each year. About 242,000 international visitors arrive in Canberra, not necessarily by plane, in a year. The last year for which we have the figures was 1992. Hobart originally was provided with an international terminal because of the Hobart casino. They looked at attracting New Zealand tourists directly to Hobart. Hobart could never expect to fill a 747 each week. They even had difficulty filling a 737, with its 110 passengers, weekly. Darwin originally became an international airport because of the requirement for servicing and refuelling. Aircraft coming in from overseas needed to stop, particularly after a long - - -
Mr Connolly: It became an international airport when Kingsford Smith landed there. It was the first plane to land in Australia, Dennis.
MR STEVENSON: Well said, Mr Connolly. No doubt he needed refuelling and servicing as well. Obviously, with modern technology, aircraft are capable of over-flying Darwin, and for many years Darwin was little used. In the last three to five years its use has increased because of international passengers coming to Kakadu and Ayers Rock. Domestic passenger throughput at Canberra certainly exceeds that of Darwin. Townsville was given international status by the Commonwealth Government because they required Qantas to fly a direct service between San Francisco and Townsville. They were using the 747 aircraft, which was new at the time, and it carried 350 passengers. That coincided with the Paul Hogan tourist promotions overseas and they did very nicely. Townsville was an immediate success for the Government and it directed Qantas and British Airways to open a new international service to Adelaide. That required fast-tracking of a new international terminal there, which they did. It was similar to what was done at Townsville. The situations were similar. It was fast-tracked, and there were benefits from that.
Qantas and British Airways, who had been directed to fly into Adelaide Airport, were both critical of the Federal Government for requiring them to do that. For some time they operated uneconomically. Because of that the British Government reduced the number of Qantas flights into London at Heathrow and suggested that they could have extra flights into Birmingham. This is what happens when governments start making regulations. Adelaide, since then, has done very well. As I mentioned earlier, there are quite a few international flights coming into Adelaide. Although the first two companies were directed to fly there, it then became commercially popular. There are 12 major airports in Australia and seven of them operate economically. They make a profit.
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