Hobart International Airport’s big plans are still waiting to take off

Despite its $40 million runway extension, Hobart International Airport is all dressed up with nowhere to go.

A Jetstar aircraft taking off from Hobart International Airport following the official opening of the runway extension.

WHAT is 500m long, black with white stripes and looks like a $40 million white elephant?

It’s the Hobart airport runway extension, financed by taxpayers’ money to enable direct international flights on the back of our tourism boom.

So far, no such flights are on the horizon. It is a case of we’re all dressed up, with nowhere to go.

The much-vaunted airport extension has been sold as vital to our tourism growth plans.

The case was a powerful one, with direct passenger and freight flights to and from South-East Asia and to Antarctica underpinning the expenditure.

When it finally opened last month, the talk was convincing.

Hobart Airport said the extension would “immediately increase our reach as an airport” and “enhance Hobart’s role as a gateway to the Antarctic”.

Australian Antarctic Division flights are up and running, and there is a Qantas charter flight over the icy continent planned ex-Hobart for late November, but so far no other international flights are on the horizon. None are booked in.

And more than two years after the green light was given for the runway extension, there’s lots of talk still going on behind the scenes.

Sadly, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore are still just as far away as ever.

A Jetstar aircraft preparing for takeoff at Hobart International Airport following the official opening of the runway extension.

Now, even those among us who know little about the wheels within wheels of the tourism business, would expect that Hobart Airport, Tourism Tasmania and others would have nailed the international flights schedule into Hobart by now.

Even the principle of “build it and they will come” seems not to be working.

On the freight side, Hobart Airport in January approved the development of a $13 million freight handling facility to the south of the current passenger terminal, which will enable Tasmanian produce to go directly to Asian city markets.

A punnet of berries hand-picked in the Coal River Valley today: on sale in Hong Kong tomorrow. That was the pitch from Hobart Airport.

Antarctic flights to and from Hobart to Wilkins Aerodrome, operated by the AAD using C17 Globemasters and Airbus 319s, have been operating regularly since late last year.

So in some regards, the Federal Government is getting a return on its investment in the runway extension.

Hobart Airport has a long history of chasing its tail. The under-utilised runway extension for international tourist flights is one thing.

The local tourism industry is more interested in and quite disparaging of what is not happening with the expansion plans for the terminal.

Unlike many airports that are future-proofed, Hobart Airport seems always to be playing catch-up with passenger demand. Launceston airport puts it to shame.

Renovations to the Hobart departure hall — due to be completed last year — stalled when it was patently obvious passenger traffic forecasts were massively underestimated. The airport’s 2015 master plan forecast 2.6 million passengers a year by 2022.

More than three million are now expected by 2022. Revised plans haven’t gone out to tender as yet, and it is believed the Hobart Airport’s planning rethink is bogged down in negotiations with airlines. There may also be some cost considerations.

Hobart International Airport Pty Ltd, which owns and operates the airport, is owned by the Tasmanian Gateway Consortium, a joint venture between two superannuation companies that clearly need to deliver strong returns to their stakeholders.

It is 49.9 per cent owned by Tasplan Superannuation Fund, and 50.1 per cent owned by Macquarie Global Infrastructure Fund 111. Industry sources say the owners charge airlines handsomely to bring passengers through Hobart, something between $16 and $17 per consumer.

That compares with similar-sized airports around the country, such as Cairns, Darwin and Newcastle, which charge about $12-$14.

There are also claims of tight staffing levels causing bottlenecks at peak times.

The airport is facing substantial capital investment not just on passenger terminal expansion and the new freight terminal, but the five aircraft aprons are seen by the industry to be inadequate for current domestic arrivals and departures.

Long waits for parking space are being experienced by arriving aircraft, up to half an hour in some cases, it has been reported.

And if and when international aircraft arrive, larger aircraft may take up two aprons.

Hobart Airport CEO Sarah Renner took over the reins last November, and it is generally accepted she was handed one of those very nasty-tasting sandwiches atop a large plateful of issues to solve.

Hobart International Airport chief executive, Sarah Renner, left, at the official opening of the airport runway extension with the Federal Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities, Paul Fletcher MHR.

Ms Renner has said that by 2022 Hobart will have secured flights to and from Asia.

Direct flights from New Zealand were “in the pipeline”, and also the Americas would be targeted.

Ms Renner was unavailable for comment by deadline. But a public relations spokesman for the Hobart Airport said as far as she was aware, “discussions were still under way” on international flights.

Tasmanian Tourism chief Luke Martin said Hobart Airport needed significant investment to create an airport capable of comfortably handling tourist traffic volumes for 2025 and well beyond, not for 12-months’ time.

He said the industry would welcome international flights, “but they need to be the right international flights”.

International flights would be seasonal and in small numbers to start with.

“Direct flights to New Zealand make a lot of sense, as do flights to the key nodes in Asia,” Mr Martin said.

“The direct flights to Adelaide are performing well, but we need daily flights.

“Direct flights to Brisbane are successful. Direct flights to Perth will be important, connecting with Qantas’ direct flights to London. At the moment the numbers don’t stack up, but they probably will in three to four years.”

One international passenger flight is planned out of Hobart on November 25 this year.

The Qantas charter flight over Antarctica, with economy starting at $1199 rising to $7999 in Ice Class, leaves at 8am and returns at 8pm. But that’s about it at this stage.

Rex Gardner is a former chief executive of the Mercury.