Aviation companies have warned the safety of the industry is at stake if funding is not forthcoming from the federal government in Tuesday’s budget.
In an eleventh-hour bid to secure financial aid, 35 flight training schools, maintenance organisations and simulator centres have written to politicians outlining their desperation.
Regional Aviation Association of Australia CEO Mike Higgins said it had been hard to watch hundreds of millions of dollars go to airlines, and not a cent to other operators.
“(Politicians) only see the Rexes and the Virgins flying around and forget there’s an entire ecosystem that exists to support the industry,” Mr Higgins said.
“The situation is becoming critical for many service providers and we call upon the government to give this its most urgent attention.”
Ansett Aviation Training global training and compliance manager John Holmes said AAT had seen 70 per cent of its business evaporate as a result of airlines halting simulator training for pilots due to the lack of flying occurring.
Flying schools were in an even worse situation with concerns increasing that the end result would be devastating for the industry, he said.
“They’ve got aircraft they’ve leased and no income. Students aren’t flying and these are all of our pilots of the future,” Captain Holmes said.
“When you see pilots are not being trained and not keeping licences current, the impact when flying resumes is going to be huge.”
He said research undertaken by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had shown periods of inactivity in the aviation industry were typically following by an increase in accidents.
“Unless there is funding injected into support industries to encourage pilots to get into simulators, there will be a huge impact on aviation safety,” said Capt Holmes.
Airports have also stepped up calls for a financial lifeline as the COVID crisis drags on, and revenue streams remain at best, a trickle.
Data for August showed increases in passenger numbers in July when state borders reopened, were quickly reversed due to Victoria’s sizeable second wave of infections.
Across the country, airports recorded a total of 939,626 passenger movements in August, down from 1.5 million in July.
A year ago, 13.8 million passenger movements were recorded in August.
Australian Airports Association CEO James Goodwin said the short term outlook remained poor, yet members were yet to receive any direct government support.
“Airports haven’t seen passenger numbers this low since records began in 1985,” said Mr Goodwin.
Although the relaxation of state borders was critical, so too was an increase in the number of people allowed to return to Australia, he said.
“Currently the government is allowing more than double the number of passengers to leave Australian shores than they’re allowing back in. If they were serious about getting Australians home from overseas, national cabinet could review the inbound caps again and raise them to match outbound numbers,” said Mr Goodwin.
“If they did this, stranded Australians could be home in time for Christmas.”