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Speaker 1: But as we know, phase two of major resurfacing works

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Speaker 1: to the runway at the Darwin International Airport and the

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Speaker 1: Raft based Darwin are due to start today. So this

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Speaker 1: phase of works is going to see the main runway

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Speaker 1: closed from two am until eleven thirty am each day

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Speaker 1: until the end of November, with regional airlines to operate

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Speaker 1: from a second runway if required. Now joining us on

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Speaker 1: the line is Rob Porter from the Airport Development Group,

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Speaker 1: the executive General manager of Operations.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Rob, Good morning Coti.

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Speaker 1: How are you not too bad? How are you guys

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Speaker 1: going this morning? How are you juggling everything with the

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Speaker 1: work that was last night or early this morning the

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Speaker 1: first day of work?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, so the runway works has already started. So

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Speaker 2: we started way back in tenth of August. Feels like

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Speaker 2: a lifetime, I go, but yes, but yeah, the key

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Speaker 2: piece was last night at two o'clock. So in a

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Speaker 2: stage we call sort of the return to service, so

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Speaker 2: we do some works on important parts of the runway

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Speaker 2: and the length of the runway shortened as as you've

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Speaker 2: already allerded to overnight for smaller smaller aircraft and important

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Speaker 2: rfs and care flight operations.

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Speaker 1: So every morning basically from two am until eleven thirty

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Speaker 1: each day until the end of November, it's going to

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Speaker 1: be that runway is going to be closed. Have you

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Speaker 1: had sort of any other changes to services aside from

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Speaker 1: that Darwin to Dimpasar during that time.

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Speaker 2: So we're not closed, we just keep shortening the runway.

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Speaker 2: So that's sort of important from an operation operations point

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Speaker 2: of view, is that the runway system a little bit

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Speaker 2: shorter and therefore smaller aircraft can use it during those

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Speaker 2: periods where the work is happening. So that's sort of

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Speaker 2: the first point. What we've seen is the airlines respond

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Speaker 2: to that. So we've done some extensive consultation with airlines

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Speaker 2: and advising them of basically just how much runways are

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Speaker 2: available each day and through each of the stages of

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Speaker 2: the runway work. So for US, airlines have made some

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Speaker 2: adjustments and some of those have resulted in cancelations, but

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Speaker 2: in the main we're seeing that yeah, we've we've got

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Speaker 2: the right seat capacity for this time of year, all right.

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Speaker 1: But so at this point in time, it does just

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Speaker 1: seem that it's a dow and to tempess O Airport

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Speaker 1: or the dow and to Tempests our route that's been impacted.

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Speaker 2: Yep, that's correct.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Now tell me should passengers expect sort of flight

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Speaker 1: cancelations or delays during this time? Are you confident that

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Speaker 1: with those discussions you've had with the airlines that it

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Speaker 1: should be smooth smooth sailing or smooth.

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Speaker 2: Flying wells as smooth as we possibly can. Right, So,

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Speaker 2: you know that we do from time to time see

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Speaker 2: some delays, but all of the airlines are aware that

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Speaker 2: there's a hard closure of our runway to do the repairs,

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Speaker 2: and then there's an opening. There's a hard opening at

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Speaker 2: eleven thirty, so they're all aware. It've been in an

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Speaker 2: industry a long long time to know that things happen

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Speaker 2: in the industry. Delays do occur, and you know, if

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Speaker 2: I'm flying, I just make sure I stay in touch

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Speaker 2: with the airline and i'm flying with I just keep

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Speaker 2: an eye on what's happening with my airline. And that's

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Speaker 2: what I recommend that everybody else does as well.

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Speaker 1: Call has just been in contact wondering why there can't

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Speaker 1: be lights put on the second crossover runway.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's quite a technical answer there, but quite

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Speaker 2: quite simply that the runways not can figure for lighting,

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Speaker 2: so we'd have to put we'd have to put lights

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Speaker 2: in So that's a massive task. What we found and

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Speaker 2: working with all the airlines and all the operators is

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Speaker 2: that if overnight or during that period where we're doing work,

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Speaker 2: if we can provide that one thousand to fourteen hundred

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Speaker 2: meters of runway, then they can continue to operate and

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Speaker 2: then in the mid early morning operators like here North

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Speaker 2: can can fire off the the cross runway. So there's

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Speaker 2: quite a technical and quite a challenge to light across

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Speaker 2: runway and that's why we've or the Department of Defense

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Speaker 2: in this case, has chosen to stage it this way.

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Speaker 1: Now, what about in terms of freight, Are we going

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Speaker 1: to see any sort of delays or any issues in

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Speaker 1: terms of the freight planes coming in and bringing goods

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Speaker 1: or exporting goods to other locations.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think that I suppose that helpful thing

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Speaker 2: whilst the runways under repair is that the freight freight

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Speaker 2: carriers have got a lot more flexibility in their in

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Speaker 2: their flight times and departure times. So we've been working

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Speaker 2: with the freight operators and ensuring that they know just

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Speaker 2: how much runway is available through all of the all

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Speaker 2: of the various stages through the program, so I'm pretty

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Speaker 2: confident that the freight operators are also all over this.

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Speaker 1: Now tell me we are told by Defense that runway

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Speaker 1: works are going to cease over the wet season and

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Speaker 1: restarting April next year. When are you expecting the next

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Speaker 1: schedule of works to be released?

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Speaker 2: So we've got a program out there for that takes

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Speaker 2: us all the way through to the end of next year.

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Speaker 2: But what we've done is it. So we're going to

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Speaker 2: form up again and have some conversations in a couple

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Speaker 2: of weeks time to look at how efficient we are.

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Speaker 2: Can we do this quicker? Is there ways that we

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Speaker 2: can do this smarter now that we're actually you know,

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Speaker 2: the contract is actually out there working, so there's an

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Speaker 2: opportunity for us to look for that for next year.

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Speaker 2: But at this stage, it's just as you've indicated, we

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Speaker 2: start again in March late March, and some of the

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Speaker 2: works that will continue during the wet things like grooving

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Speaker 2: the runway or how runway needs to be groove so

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Speaker 2: water drains off it so we can actually do the

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Speaker 2: grooving when during the wet season. So we're looking for

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Speaker 2: all of those ways so that we can minimize disruption

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Speaker 2: for next year.

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Speaker 1: But so Rob, from your perspective, you are feeling as

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Speaker 1: though you're like feeling pretty confident with the way in

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Speaker 1: which things are going to roll out, and by the

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Speaker 1: sounds of it, you know, hopeful that there's not going

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Speaker 1: to be too many disruptions.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, we've got all the right minds in the

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Speaker 2: room working on this pretty well daily to ensure that

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Speaker 2: you know, the safety of the aerogram, which is absolutely paramount,

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Speaker 2: but also the efficiency so we can we can get

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Speaker 2: people moving in and out of the territory with its

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Speaker 2: business or leisure. So I think, yeah, we're living and

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Speaker 2: breathing it every day.

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Speaker 1: Well, Rob Porter, we always appreciate your time and no

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Speaker 1: doubt we'll talk to you again in the very near future.

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Speaker 2: Thanks take care mate, Thank you you too,