Control of Hobart airport sold

[Quickstatus]

In the local rag this morning a story about how the feds have funded immigration etc for the forthcoming international flights!

A certain Senator has be re-employed me thinks

 

[Stealthflyer]

I actually didn't mind it that much last time I was in HBA but as an occasional visitor, I don't have that contempt that breeds from familiarity. The food offerings are minimal though, not that there are real food offerings in a QF DOM lounge either. I just viewed the whole terminal to be a generic lounge. I sat at the central bar which was OK.

I don’t feel contempt. It’s just boring. Really really boring. A recent delay saw me wait from 6pm until 10pm. I ended up buying a couple of pints of tasteless beer just to pass the time. I would have liked some food but i wasn’t about to fork out $10 for a couple of party pies.

The central bar was terrific at one stage when it was branded as Iron House - the craft brewery on Tassie’s east coast. It was finally something that celebrated Tasmania’s produce. But now it’s returned to a generic overpriced outlet that sells Corona and other misery beer (although they do sell Cascade Lager at quite a margin)

 

[RooFlyer]

I don’t feel contempt.

I do ( can you tell ), particularly for the management, although they would be at the mercy of the greedy shareholders, I guess. The former half owner, the Mac-bank related entity was, I think, private equity, so needed a large rate of return, especially in the years leading up to disposal - the asset was 'plumped up' for sale. So they screwed the Capex to the bare minimum - not buying enough stairs, FFS.

Ask the little tinkering at the edges, the awful cattle runs on the apron to direct the pax to the distant planes etc etc.

As an airport, it's not the end of the world. It's the history and how it's been run that bugs me.

Maybe with the new majority owner, someone who actually knows how to run airports, we might have some hope. The local tourist bosses think so.

 

[Stealthflyer]

I do ( can you tell ), particularly for the management, although they would be at the mercy of the greedy shareholders, I guess. The former half owner, the Mac-bank related entity was, I think, private equity, so needed a large rate of return, especially in the years leading up to disposal - the asset was 'plumped up' for sale. So they screwed the Capex to the bare minimum - not buying enough stairs, FFS.

Ask the little tinkering at the edges, the awful cattle runs on the apron to direct the pax to the distant planes etc etc.

As an airport, it's not the end of the world. It's the history and how it's been run that bugs me.

Maybe with the new majority owner, someone who actually knows how to run airports, we might have some hope. The local tourist bosses think so.

Hmm now that you’ve reminded me about all thing things I hate about the airport’s management (although you didn’t mention the parking - my most frequent rant), maybe I do feel contempt. It’s a strong word. Let’s say I have *some* contempt.

The contempt is definitely lessened by the fact that I’ve never had to wait more than 1 minute to go through the security scanner. That has nothing to do with airport management though.

 

[RooFlyer]

They've had a couple of ramps for a while, but I think only suitable for B717s.

I had a zig-zag ramp on a B737 this afternoon. There were 6 aircraft on the apron when we pulled in!

The contempt is definitely lessened by the fact that I’ve never had to wait more than 1 minute to go through the security scanner. That has nothing to do with airport management though.

Yes, I've praised the security area myself, on here. Something to look forward to!

 

[Stealthflyer]

I had a zig-zag ramp on a B737 this afternoon. There were 6 aircraft on the apron when we pulled in!

I guess they’re now the Virgin stairs of death rather than the HBA stairs of death *sigh*

 

[RooFlyer]

Tas Govt does want to make Hobart an International Airport as does the airport owners - on public record some time back pre-CV. Just who foots the bill is a sticking point, similarly finding an airline who would operate flights is another hurdle as the numbers do not appear to stack up.

The Feds paid $25mill for the airport runway to be lengthened (to take up to A330s I think), and it is up to them to fund the Border Force and Federal Police - and that's been 'promised' (actually committed IIRC).

The target international market was direct flights from China which, pre-covid was marginal, but not out of the question - you have to factor in a lot of high value, short shelf life fresh food freight that would go with it.

With the Chinese screwing with our exports, who knows where that will go - but maybe the ruling elite will still like their fresh crayfish and abalone

Luckily, the new majority owners are Schiphol, so at least the airport owners know a bit about airports, unlike the last lot.

 

[Quickstatus]

Don’t forget that 30% is owned by TasPlan (an industry super fund)