Our primary case to the Department is that regional aviation should be exempted from some of the components of a Customer Rights Charter. The inclusion of regional airlines in all components of the proposed Charter would result in an unfair operational burden on regional carriers, particularly as their ability to mitigate the effects of unexpected events that lead to flight delays is limited.
The imposition of any additional costs on regional airlines raises a real possibility of adverse impacts for communities in regional and remote locations across Australia. Any new scheme should consider the type of airline operation and the locations they are operating to protect the services they provide to regional and remote communities across Australia.
Safety must also remain the industry’s number one priority. Any Charter must not threaten or compromise the world-class safety culture of the Australian aviation industry. There is a real risk that safety could be undermined by factors that put pressure on an operator to avoid a financial penalty as part of their day-to-day operational decision making.
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