1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,520
Speaker 1: But I want to talk about flights coming into the

2
00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:05,160
Speaker 1: Northern Territory and joining me on the line right now,

3
00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:10,120
Speaker 1: Northern Territory Airport's Chief executive, Tony Edmundstern, Good morning.

4
00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:14,160
Speaker 2: Tony, morning Catie, how are you very well?

5
00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:17,200
Speaker 1: Thank you now, Tony. I know things out at the

6
00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:19,680
Speaker 1: airport aren't as busy as what they would be on

7
00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:23,520
Speaker 1: an ordinary year, but by the sounds of things, those

8
00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:25,760
Speaker 1: flights are sort of starting to become a little bit

9
00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:26,600
Speaker 1: more regular.

10
00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,479
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, Look, I think we're sort of running thirty

11
00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,159
Speaker 2: five to forty percent of where we would normally be

12
00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:37,160
Speaker 2: at this time of year, and you know, really positively,

13
00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:39,479
Speaker 2: that's almost double where we were apt probably a couple

14
00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:41,280
Speaker 2: of months ago. So you know, I think it really

15
00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:45,080
Speaker 2: bodes well for what's coming up in the Christmas rush.

16
00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, and obviously those flights yesterday or certainly the borders

17
00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,960
Speaker 1: opened yesterday to Regional Victoria. Did you have any flights

18
00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:54,080
Speaker 1: that arrived from Victoria yesterday?

19
00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:57,520
Speaker 2: We did, we did. I was actually my caught up

20
00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:01,880
Speaker 2: with the opposition lead deputy last night and he was

21
00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,400
Speaker 2: one that sort of come out of Geelong from Regional Victoria.

22
00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:07,759
Speaker 2: By Melbourne. They're a bit slow sort of coming through

23
00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:09,440
Speaker 2: the terminal, so we sort of needed a bit of

24
00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:12,360
Speaker 2: patience on that, but he did advice that the flight

25
00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:12,880
Speaker 2: was packed.

26
00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:18,559
Speaker 1: And what is the process Tony for those arrivals from

27
00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,840
Speaker 1: Victoria that obviously, you know, we're not allowing those from

28
00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,520
Speaker 1: Melbourne in, but certainly are allowing those from regional Victoria.

29
00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:27,880
Speaker 1: So what's the process in terms of going through and

30
00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:29,440
Speaker 1: differentiating those people.

31
00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:34,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, so at Melbourne you're allowed to transit through Tullamarine Airport.

32
00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:38,080
Speaker 2: So if you've come from Regional Victoria, subject to sort

33
00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:40,679
Speaker 2: of not stopping and integrating in the community, that you

34
00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,160
Speaker 2: go straight to Tullamarine, jump on the flight and then out.

35
00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:47,080
Speaker 2: You're allowed to do that when you arrive here in Darwin.

36
00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:51,600
Speaker 2: All arrivals from Melbourne flights come through our international terminal

37
00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:55,360
Speaker 2: and assorted pretty clearly by health authorities and others at

38
00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,360
Speaker 2: that point in time. So you know, those that come

39
00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,400
Speaker 2: out of Metro Melbourne out to how it springs. Those

40
00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,520
Speaker 2: that come from Regional then are allowed to depart the

41
00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:06,000
Speaker 2: terminal on their own cord.

42
00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,720
Speaker 1: And it seems that those things are going all fairly smoothly.

43
00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,079
Speaker 1: I know I've gone through the process of arriving back

44
00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:17,040
Speaker 1: from Queensland and going through the checks with the health

45
00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,400
Speaker 1: officials and i'll tell you what, I think we're doing

46
00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:21,880
Speaker 1: an incredibly good job here in the Northern Territory.

47
00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:24,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did note that you had sort of minister

48
00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,680
Speaker 2: files on earlier. You know, all credit to the health

49
00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:31,040
Speaker 2: team that they've been fantastic both here and in Ella Springs.

50
00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:34,720
Speaker 2: You know, we haven't been short of resources from that,

51
00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,320
Speaker 2: and to be frank, other than the occasional time where

52
00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:40,440
Speaker 2: it's a bit slow, most passengers are getting through in

53
00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,360
Speaker 2: sort of twenty twenty five minutes, which is really really

54
00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:45,720
Speaker 2: comfortable and tony.

55
00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,520
Speaker 1: When you talk about capacity, Where have we got flights

56
00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,760
Speaker 1: arriving from into firstly Darwin at the moment.

57
00:02:53,800 --> 00:03:00,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we hit all capitals excluding excluding Hobart the moments,

58
00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,440
Speaker 2: we've got direct flights to all. Obviously we're still all

59
00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,639
Speaker 2: sitting waiting on Melbourne Metro and the signs are very

60
00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,600
Speaker 2: very good. So we expect when Melbourne Metro you know,

61
00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:12,960
Speaker 2: reduces in terms of being a hot spot and the

62
00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,600
Speaker 2: frequency of those travels and the number of passengers on

63
00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:19,080
Speaker 2: those will jump up pretty substantially, you know, with the

64
00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:23,359
Speaker 2: border reopening on the fourteenth of November to Perth. You know,

65
00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:25,160
Speaker 2: I think we've sort of got four or five flights

66
00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:30,079
Speaker 2: weekly on those. We expect that that that frequency will increase,

67
00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,600
Speaker 2: you know, on that post fourteen fourteen November, so you

68
00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:40,120
Speaker 2: know we've got connections give the will increase when you know,

69
00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:44,960
Speaker 2: WA starts running and of Queensland because a lot of

70
00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,320
Speaker 2: Virgin people sort of come up through and hub through Queensland.

71
00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:51,680
Speaker 1: And then obviously Ola Springs. I would I would imagine

72
00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:53,320
Speaker 1: that you've got some flights in and out of Alice

73
00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:55,840
Speaker 1: as well at the moment. Are they picking up somewhat too?

74
00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:58,760
Speaker 2: Yep, yeah, yeah, yeah. So as I said, you know,

75
00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,000
Speaker 2: if I think progressively over the last three or four months,

76
00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:04,680
Speaker 2: you know, we've gone from sort of fifteen percent of

77
00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:07,920
Speaker 2: historical for the month of September, we're we're about thirty

78
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,240
Speaker 2: five percent of historical. So to put that into context,

79
00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,720
Speaker 2: that's sort of around about eighty thousand passengers a month.

80
00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,599
Speaker 2: We would hope in October that jumps up to sort

81
00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:20,360
Speaker 2: of forty five to fifty percent because we've got Sydney

82
00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:22,440
Speaker 2: opening and we can sort of hopefully crack one hundred

83
00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:23,960
Speaker 2: thousand passengers a month. Number.

84
00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,880
Speaker 1: Wow. So you are anticipating that things are going to

85
00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:29,919
Speaker 1: get much busier, and then are you expecting it to

86
00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,400
Speaker 1: get even busier then for the month of December.

87
00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, we do expect, you know again, you know Christmas

88
00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:38,560
Speaker 2: time at borders are opening, and I know there's a

89
00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,680
Speaker 2: plan now with most states and territories to be opening.

90
00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,039
Speaker 2: We're expecting a lot of people sort of heading out

91
00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:48,280
Speaker 2: to visit friends and relatives and likewise Southerners to come

92
00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:49,640
Speaker 2: up and enjoy the sunshine.

93
00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:52,960
Speaker 1: And Tony, I'm sure that in your industry, you know,

94
00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,440
Speaker 1: more so than a lot of others. We know that

95
00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:58,760
Speaker 1: the aviation industry has been hit so incredibly hard when

96
00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,200
Speaker 1: you talk about COVID. But obviously the government announced yesterday

97
00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,200
Speaker 1: those additional safeguards when it comes to the tracking and tracing,

98
00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:09,800
Speaker 1: so people obviously, you know, submitting their details when they

99
00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:12,320
Speaker 1: go into a location for longer than fifteen minutes. I

100
00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,120
Speaker 1: know the airport obviously has a lot of safeguards in

101
00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:17,480
Speaker 1: place already. But is this a good move from your

102
00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:21,279
Speaker 1: perspective to really try our best to avoid any further

103
00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:22,559
Speaker 1: lockdowns down the track?

104
00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:25,800
Speaker 2: Ah? Look, I think you know, if there's one thing,

105
00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:28,120
Speaker 2: you know, we've had you know we've had COVID come

106
00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,719
Speaker 2: into the territory or who we haven't had community spread.

107
00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,839
Speaker 2: We've had it come into the territory before at a

108
00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,479
Speaker 2: point in time in Australia doing a fantastic job. But

109
00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:38,520
Speaker 2: you know there's every chance that it will come in again.

110
00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:41,560
Speaker 2: If it does come in, you know, it's how quickly

111
00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:43,880
Speaker 2: you can you can track and trace and clamp on.

112
00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:45,760
Speaker 2: It is going to be the driver. So I think

113
00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,760
Speaker 2: it's a fantastic idea that's sort of coming out as

114
00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:50,000
Speaker 2: we copy the rest of the States.

115
00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:56,400
Speaker 1: Absolutely well. Anti Airport's Chief executive Officer, Tony Edmondston really

116
00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:58,680
Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much for having

117
00:05:58,720 --> 00:05:59,360
Speaker 1: a chat with us.

118
00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:00,920
Speaker 2: Thanks Cady, Bye bye