CEO says Hobart flights are safe

THERE has never been a risk to passenger safety says Hobart Airport boss Sarah Renner despite concerns over aircraft failing to comply with new flight paths.

Planes twice flew too close to each other over Richmond and nine departing aircraft failed to stick to height restrictions in just the first six month of the new system, the Mercury revealed yesterday.

“The flight path issue really rests with Airservices Australia,” Ms Renner, chief executive of Hobart Airport, said.

“Our understanding is that passenger safety has never been at risk.”

Airservices said safety was their first priority when implementing any new flight paths.

Chief executive Jason Harfield told a Senate committee earlier this year whenever there was an incident they worked with the airlines to make things safer.

“We continually monitor the safety of any airspace, regardless of whether it’s Hobart, and sometimes when you do change things there is what we call heightened implementation risk,” he said.

“We take every [loss of separation event] seriously.”

A loss of separation is when aircraft are within 305m vertically or closer than 9.26km horizontally. One occurred in December 2017, another in January this year.

In September last year Airservices Australia implemented satellite-guided paths for planes arriving and departing Hobart Airport.

Airservices said it was safer because it ensured aircraft flew predictably and consistently, even during bad weather.

They said the Civil Aviation Authority had recommended standard arrival routes and required instrument flight rules to transition from groundbased to satellite-guided navigation.