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Proposed new low cost carrier OzJet could be taking passengers by year end, according to backer Minardi F1 motor racing team boss Australian Paul Stoddart.
OzJet plans to use BAe 146s and fly from secondary airports in Melbourne and Sydney and then later Queensland, Adelaide and possibly Canberra. Stoddart said he has held preliminary talks with Victorian state government officials and said that OzJet would most likely operate out of existing smaller suburban airports such as Moorabbin, Bankstown and Archerfield.
Ozjet reportedly has already bought three ex Ansett BAe 146-300 jets and says it hopes to start service with six of the 100 seaters in the fourth quarter.
The six BAe 146 jets have not flown since Ansett collapsed in March 2002.
Ansett administrators have 16 BAe 146s to dispose of, as well as an extensive inventory of spares and a simulator.
Ozjet wants to fly 10 of the four engined aircraft between secondary airports in major cities, charging fully flexible single fares of $149.
But Transport minister John Anderson poured cold water on Stoddart’s plan to operate from Sydney’s Bankstown airport, Archerfield in Brisbane and from Moorabbin as an alternative to Essendon.
And Virgin Blue said it would also demand access to secondary ports if Ozjet got permission to operate from them.
“If the governments are willing to allow jet services into secondary airports such as Essendon, Virgin Blue would like to review the matter as soon as possible,” Virgin spokesman David Huttner said.
OzJet chief executive Peter Schot said it had been talking extensively with “three or four airports” and had a couple of in principle agreements. He said the airline had deliberately picked the BAe 146 for its low noise footprint.
California’s “John Wayne Airport in the US is probably the world’s most noise sensitive airport and the whisper jet (146) is the only aircraft that has been approved to operate in and out of that airport”, he said.
“It also operates out of London City Airport, and London City has an unbelievable population around it. Again, the 146 is the only aircraft that can go in and out of there.”
Moorabbin Airport management is keen to get the service operating. But aviation observers note several obstacles, other than political, to operate from secondary airports, including runway pavement strength and lack of suitable infrastructure such as terminals, security facilities, apron and taxiway restrictions and fuel infrastructure.
Stoddart earlier created a European aviation operation with ex RAAF BAC 111s in the late eighties, which he recently sold for a sizeable profit.