Towards a New Beginning: A Blueprint for Recovery

1. Towards a New Beginning:A Blueprint for Recovery Michael Bridge CEO - Airnorth Regional Chairman - RAAA BTRE COLLOQUIUM

2. Outline • What Is Regional Aviation? • RAAA Today • The Issues Today • National perspective • Industry perspective • The Future • Blueprint For Recovery BTRE COLLOQUIUM

3. Who Is Regional Aviation? • Regional Airlines • Charter Operations • Aeromedical Operations • Aerial Work Operations • Maintenance Organisations • Regional Flying Schools • Regional Airports, and • The Businesses That Support Them BTRE COLLOQUIUM

4. The RAAA Today BTRE COLLOQUIUM

5. The Issues Today - National • Changing demographics • Market based policies • Smaller communities losing services: • Social costs • Economic costs • Medical • Agri-business BTRE COLLOQUIUM

6. The Issues Today - Industry • Inadequate return on investment and effort • Runaway costs: • CASA • Security • Fuel • Airports • Looming staff shortages esp pilots and LAMEs • Aging aircraft BTRE COLLOQUIUM

7. The Future • Depends both on Government and ourselves • Need a market • Need access to: • appropriate airports • enough adequately trained staff • appropriate aircraft (and capital) • Need fair return on investment and effort: • support from market • appropriate regulatory environment • appropriate economic conditions BTRE COLLOQUIUM

8. Blueprint for Recovery • Recognise things we can not change: • Declining populations in the bush • Lack of economies of scale • Lack of replacement low capacity aircraft • and work on the rest BTRE COLLOQUIUM

9. Blueprint for Recovery • Industry: • Work more closely with other segments: • Strength through unity • Work together more within own segment: • Create economies of scale • Help fix the LAME problem: • Improve pay and conditions for technical staff • Employ apprentices • Improve marketing of industry: • Recruitment • Attractiveness of air travel • Reasonableness of fare structure BTRE COLLOQUIUM

10. Blueprint for Recovery • Government: • Recognise significance of regional aviation • Make CASA less intrusive, more efficient, less costly • Review Act and Regulations • Make CASA more accountable • Reduce security cost burden on industry • Control airport pricing and activities • Facilitate technical training like academic training • Provide tax relief for upgrading (depreciation and CGT) • Develop RASS to encourage expansion of services BTRE COLLOQUIUM

11. Conclusions • Regional air services are: • essential to rural and remote communities’: • social well-being • economic well-being • in decline • held back by • small market size/long routes • runaway costs: • government charges (CASA, security) • fuel • airports • lack of economies of scale • looming staff shortages • aging aircraft • It is time for change BTRE COLLOQUIUM

12. Conclusions • Unless things change, the end is in sight for many more regional services and regional operators • Industry’s challenge – • to work together to develop some economies of scale • to provide better pay and conditions for staff • to market itself better to the public • Governments’ challenge – • to change policies to • remove unnecessary economic burdens (federal and state level) • remove unnecessary regulatory burdens • encourage aviation • extend the incentives for academic training to technical training We don’t want a hand out – we seek a fair go BTRE COLLOQUIUM

13. THANK YOU BTRE COLLOQUIUM