Rescue, fire fighting and emergency response capacity at Australian airports during the COVID-19 pandemic REPORT PREPARED FOR THE UNITED FIREFIGHTERS UNION OF AUSTRALIA William Mitchell1 July 2020 Centre of Full Employment and Equity University of Newcastle, Australia Home Page: http://www.fullemployment.net Email: [email protected] 1 Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 29 1.1 Purpose of the Report ............................................................................................................................................................29 1.2 Outline of the report ...............................................................................................................................................................29 2. Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighting Service (ARFFS) in Australia ............................. 31 3. Regulatory system of ARFFS provision .................................................................. 35 3.1 Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) .........................................................................................................................35 3.2 Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) .................................................................................................................36 3.3 Airservices Australia (ASA) ...................................................................................................................................................36 3.4 Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighting Service Regulatory Policy Review ...........................................................37 3.5 International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) ....................................................................................................37 4. International best practice of ARFFS ...................................................................... 39 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................39 4.2 Classification of airports .........................................................................................................................................................40 4.3 Provision of ARFFS ....................................................................................................................................................................42 4.4 Number of vehicles ..................................................................................................................................................................42 4.5 Quantity of agent ......................................................................................................................................................................43 4.6 ARFFS staffing ...............................................................................................................................................................................45 4.7 Equipment .....................................................................................................................................................................................47 4.8 Response times ...........................................................................................................................................................................48 5. The collapse of airline travel during the pandemic ................................................ 50 6. Government aid to the aviation sector during the pandemic ................................ 51 6.1 Government aid to airlines ...................................................................................................................................................51 6.2 Government aid to airports .................................................................................................................................................53 7. Evaluating current asset risk at Australian airports ................................................ 55 7.1 Where have all the aircraft gone? ....................................................................................................................................55 7.2 Valuing the at-risk assets – aircraft.....................................................................................................................................56 7.3 Valuing the at-risk assets – airport infrastructure ......................................................................................................56 7.4 Valuing the at-risk assets – local neighbourhood .....................................................................................................57 2 8. Case study analysis of the current situation and at-risk assets at Australian airports .................................................................67 8.1 Sydney Airport ...........................................................................................................................................................................69 8.2 Ballina Airport ..............................................................................................................................................................................70 8.3 Coffs Harbour Airport ............................................................................................................................................................70 8.4 Brisbane Airport .........................................................................................................................................................................71 8.5 Cairns Airport ..............................................................................................................................................................................72 8.6 Gladstone Airport .....................................................................................................................................................................73 8.7 Rockhampton Airport .............................................................................................................................................................73 8.8 Townsville Airport.....................................................................................................................................................................74 8.9 Avalon Airport ............................................................................................................................................................................76 8.10 Canberra Airport ......................................................................................................................................................................77 8.11 Adelaide Airport .......................................................................................................................................................................77 8.12 Darwin Airport ...........................................................................................................................................................................78 8.13 Alice Springs Airport ..............................................................................................................................................................79 8.14 Perth Airport ................................................................................................................................................................................79 8.15 Port Hedland Airport .............................................................................................................................................................79 8.16 Launceston ....................................................................................................................................................................................80 9. A broader view of assets and risk – Australia’s tourism capacity ........................... 81 9.1 Tourism and air travel ..............................................................................................................................................................81 9.2 Economic benefits of tourism .............................................................................................................................................85 9.3 Economic impact of tourism on Australian economy ............................................................................................85 9.4 The economic loss to Australia from an adverse event at an Australian airport ....................................90 10. The cost of provision of ARFFS in Australia ............................................................ 92 10.1 ARFFS employee costs ...........................................................................................................................................................92 10.2 Justifying crisis support for Airservices Australia ......................................................................................................93 11. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 95 References ................................................................................................................... 97 3 List of Tables Table No. Title Page 2.1 ARFFS levels of service