Inequality comes in many forms.
Reports are rife from our membership about discrimination of rights and an imbalance of power between Landlords and the Tenants at airports across the country.
Landlords are motivated by corporate greed and enabled by improper oversight from the vested authorities - such as the Commonwealth - the government body that granted many of the airport leases.
The adverse actions of airport landlords against its tenants is creating a bleak outlook for the Australian aviation landscape.
The outcomes directly harm and impact smaller airport operators, young pilots and engineers, and engineering companies who have roles that cannot be performed anywhere else. The Airports Act 1996 and Airports Regulations 1997, are prevented from achieving the ‘mixed use’ aviation objective. The GAAAI membership say this primarily due to airport mismanagement and irresponsible oversight on the part of the Australian Government.
Airport management companies were entrusted by the government with long term airport leases. For years now they are engaging in conduct which overtly discriminates against sectors of the industry, aviation operators and aviation businesses alike.
Mandatory conversions of site leases to force building acquisitions, unfair inoperable terms, dirty tricks, and threats to not renew leases if the vulnerable tenants will not agree, are some of the issues tabled by GAAAI members.
There are evidenced reports of demolished hangars, repurposing of hangars as car yards, misleading Government inquiries, mis-stating the industry requirements, breaches on the safety splay, unaffordability - then claiming there is a disinterested industry in Hangars and a market decline (the chicken and egg argument). In short these landlords are decimating whole sectors of the industry, one company at a time.
GAAAI Members have reported stories about airport Landlords rigging lease outcomes, unconscionable conduct, denial of rights, trickery, serving tenants eviction notices and other notices, on Christmas Eve (just before switching out-of-office notices on). There are reports of unilateral, unexecuted leases given to valuers to underpin valuations and determinations, backdated invoices - in some cases by 6 years.
There are reports of manufactured evidence and affidavits, refusing to assign leases within the rights of the lease, using high powered law firms to intimidate, execute unfair terms, and airports running unnecessarily elongated and disorganised legal cases, designed to run tenants out of funds.
And there are so many more reports of what GAAAI Members have been subjected to.
Tenants have reported being terrified, backed into a corner with no hope. They are overpowered and will often agree in light of the threats to not renew leases which would result in a loss of livelihood, and are subjected to rents raised to unreasonable levels via a destruction of tenants rights. Tenants are subjected to unfair conduct and outcomes that they feel are no better than organised racketeering.
Some members have reported what could only be described as downright thuggery and abuse of power by airport landlords often comprised of staff and the board members who direct them.
The airport monopoly greed forces a negative partisanship against specialised aviation operators. It has a disastrous affect on local aviation supply, jobs performed in GA and skills attained only at airports. It impacts vital services GA provides to the community.
Unfortunately, these examples are only the tip of the iceberg and the domino effect of the unabated corporate greed bearing down on GA airports in Australia is now a reality in the decline of the whole of the GA industry.
The conduct and action of airport management boards discriminates against the industry as a whole and especially targets operators of smaller, lower margin, aircraft, in turn this creates a major countrywide negative impact on pilot training, access to quality operations for younger pilots and engineers to move through the regulatory requirements, and training pathways - GA is challenged to provide services, and quality pilot and engineering supply to bigger airlines and the world at large.
Cases reported where the airport management companies spend months and sometimes years, scheming and plotting against tenants, formulating plans on how to reduce tenants rights, extract tenants profits, take tenants hangars without fair consideration, or offer incentives verbally and then deny once they are tricked into signing.
Reports are rife about tactics used against tenants to execute unfair leases, deny the tenants of rights, avoidance of landlord maintenance responsibility. Regular meetings to jack up fees and charges and to come up with new levies.
The airport landlords play a cruel game of hangar chess with airport hangars and tenants.
Reports of manipulation of airside infrastructure to create more non aviation businesses. Reports are consistent that Landlords generally overpower tenants with the gross imbalance of power.
Property economics - this is the business the property management companies have made of the Commonwealth owned airports - slowly grinding away and decimating the GA community with the ever churning greed.
‘Mixed Use’ aviation, as defined in the act is contravened by way of its inability to exist due to the actions of airport management companies.
Australia is in the midst of an aviation/engineering/staffing/hangars, airport management crisis.
GAAAI’s 400 plus membership - maintains that landlords are the main players in this crisis. They say the airport management companies entrusted with Commonwealth airport Leases, have affected a blanket discrimination of Tenants rights using underhand tactics, scheming against the very tenants that form the GA aviation sector and working out ways to minimise airports and maximise property development.
The smaller aircraft will have to fly to Timbuktu just to exist…
Copyright © 2023 General Aviation & Airports Association Incorporated - All Rights Reserved.
In Unity
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.