Hitch to hit flight services

AIR passengers across Australia face delays and cancellations with Airservices and the Defence Department stalling on signing a new joint national air traffic control system.

The industry has warned the chaos seen last September when a Sydney Airport air traffic system failed was just a taste of what could beset air services with new runway and airport projects in progress in Melbourne, Queensland, Sunshine Coast, Perth and Sydney.

The need for a new air traffic control system was recognised in 2011 with a contract for a new system, known as OneSky from French aerospace group Thales, discussed in 2015 and due for signing in that year.

Last August Airservices said it was “99 per cent ready to go” to sign a contract.

But six months on and costs have blown out to more than $1 billion as Airservices and Defence, joint stakeholders in the project to cover both civilian and military airports, bicker as to who should foot the growing bill. Defence had only budgeted $244 million for its share of the contract and Airservices $652 million.

It is understood federal Cabinet’s National Security Committee has been told of the critical budget shortfall and the project is on Defence’s “Projects of Concern” list, also known as “shame file”

Australian Airports Association chief executive Caroline Wilkie said without a solution the nation risked limiting aviation growth and “a constraint” on the economy.