Your Destination - Hobart Airport New Upgrade Pt 1 - 190524

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's both this morning and we are talking your destination.
We are being joined today by Norris Carter, the CEO
of Hobart Airport, and Matt Cocker, the COO. And Norris
thank you for joining us. Thanks Bo and Matt, thank
you for being here as well. Good to be here. Now,
there has been some big announcements that have been going through. Norris,
I'm going to throw this your way. You guys have

(00:20):
a new project that you're working on which is separate
to this massive, like two hundred million dollar upgrade, So
what's the go That's right.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
The other project we're doing is spending one hundred and
thirty million dollars on upgrading our runway and airfield so
that we can handle the big wide body international aircraft. Well,
that means is we'll be able to have direct lights
into Asia, places like Singapore or Hong Kong, which then
means you're one stop from Europe instead of two stops
like we are.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Now that is incredible news. Now, I've done multiple flights
to Europe and it's that stop, particularly on the way home,
where you have to stop at the mainland, that really
drives you nut. So that's going to make it a
lot easier for people.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, it's great for Tasmanians going to Europe. So it
takes that first step and as you say, that last
step when you're coming homes horrible. But it's also for
tourists coming in as well, because everyone already thinks Australia's
at the end of the Earth, so having a yet
another flight on top of the fourteen hour flight from
America or twenty four hours from Europe, people just don't
do it. And our research told us that that was

(01:15):
a barrier to people coming to Tasmania and so that's
a great boost for tourism. The other thing it's really
good for is outbound freight, So getting fresh produce like
lobsters and cherries out to mouths in Asia if they
can fly direct without having to go via the mainland,
takes hours and hours off the trip, which means the
product derives fresher.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Do they ever stuff the cherries in the lobsters just
to try and save space, that'd be a good move.
You said that you're allowing the wide bodied planes to
come in. Does that mean if they were to try
and land now that the surface wouldn't be strong enough
for them.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah. The issue is not when they're landing. It's when
they're taking off, because that's when they're fully loaded up
with fuel and that's when the plane's at its heaviest.
And so our runway was built, you know, years ago,
and only for the sort of narrow body domestic aircraft
that we have at the moment. They weigh up to
about ninety tons. The larger aircraft can weigh up to
nearly three hundred tons, so nearly three times as heavy,

(02:07):
and our rumway just can't take it at the moment.
So what we're doing is basically making the runway thicker
and stronger.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
If you're putting in a new runway, is that something
that you have to worry about deterioration with over time
as well.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, runways like a road. We know how councils have
to go around occasionally resurfacing the roads around suburbs. This
is exactly the same on a grander scale. So we
have to do that anyway, and we're just taking the
chance this time when we're doing it now, to do
the extra work to make it thicker and stronger.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Well, I'd just like to say that I hope every
airport in the world does a better job than every
council in the world of fixing up the roads, because
my god, I've nearly lost a tire and a bunch
of them. So you'll be able to get lots of
different things in and out. Does that mean you'll have
freight planes? Are you going to be working twenty four
hours around the clock then if you're getting freights that
are going to be coming in and out.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
No, we're expecting most of the freight to come in
the bellies of passenger aircraft. Over ninety percent of the
air freight in the world actually goes underneath in the
luggage space of the aircraft that are flying around any
Is that.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Way I get charged extra if I've got a kilo
too much in my bags.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
That's right, because they've got a trade off against the
freight they could have sold.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
It for damn it. Well, at least they don't make
me get on a scale. We're having a chat with
Norris Carter, the CEO from Hobart Airport, and we'll be
back having a chat with Matt Cocker, the COO. This
is your destination