Turnbull Government locks in $1.2 billion OneSKY project to cut air delays

TRAVELLERS will experience faster flights and fewer frustrating delays when the nation’s skies are revolutionised by a $1.2 billion air traffic management system run from Melbourne.

AIR passengers will experience faster flights and fewer delays under a $1.2 billion air traffic management system to be run from Melbourne.

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Sophisticated new technology in the world-first project will track all commercial and military flights in the 11 per cent of global airspace Australia manages. Authorities say this will ensure faster and safer flights and prevent another MH370-style disappearance.

The Herald Sun can reveal the Federal Government will announce today that it has signed contracts with aerospace giant Thales Australia for The OneSKY project, supporting 450 jobs in Melbourne.

The project, nearly a decade in the making, is designed to handle a 60 per cent increase in local air traffic by 2030.

The new technology will help planes to fly more “point-to-point” routes and allow more efficient takeoffs and approaches to airports, which will cut travel times and reduce delays and cancellations.

New technology will help planes to fly more ‘point-to-point’ routes and allow more efficient takeoffs and approaches to airports.

Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said the project would transform “infrastructure in the sky” and ensure passengers arrived safely and quickly at destinations.

Air traffic in the Asia-Pacific region is growing at 4.7 per cent a year, but the boost in efficiency is expected to reduce airlines’ fuel costs and greenhouse emissions.

Thales’s Melbourne experts have generated more than $1 billion in exports by building similar air traffic management systems for nations including China, Indonesia and Singapore. But this project will be the first to handle both military and civilian air traffic.

“The OneSKY project will support 450 specialist hi-tech jobs in Melbourne, building Australian skills in complex project management, systems engineering and software development,” Mr Pyne said.

Defence Minister Christopher Pyne says the project will ‘transform infrastructure in the sky’. Picture: Gary Ramage

The project — handled by Airservices Australia and Defence — has been in the works since 2009, and the government initially hoped the contract would be signed in 2015.

But it has been plagued by difficulties. An Australian National Audit Office report last year queried whether the Thales bid “offered the best value for money”.

Defence Minister Marisa Payne said the OneSKY project would now be removed from Defence’s “projects of concern” list.

She said it would give Australia the most secure and resilient air network in the world.

“This project will replace the ageing military air traffic management systems and is essential to ensuring our Australian Defence Force can continue to operate safely in Australia’s airspace,” Senator Payne said.

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