Airfares: let’s get clever

I MUST have blinked … but wanting to book my own flights interstate I ventured onto Virgin, primarily because I don’t like my reluctant kness up around unwilling ears. Lo and behold they were expensive to Adelaide. Any day into the next millenium.

I tried Jetstar. But Adelaide was missing from the menu. On Jetstar you can get to Adelaide. First catch a flight Hobart to Avalon, then somehow teleport to Tullamarine, and thereafter fly to Adelaide. Very popular that route. I’m told by them this has been the go since March.

Qantas wanted to charge a fee porportionate to the lack of accountability for expenditure exercised by its passengers.

The good times had to end and they have.

Again we are isolated by expense.

I know we ask a lot of state government. We ask them to provide a modicum of health and education services. We ask them to protect us from crime and not just use the police as an adjunct to Gunn’s security services.

Would it be too much to ask they to try to even think about using the strength of a state in dealing with what is a basic infrastructure question; the cost of the ingress and egress to this state.

In the modern age. By plane. If I want to take a boat I’ll sail my yacht.

It is not that hard. For example …

1. Ring up Jetstar. They have abandoned the route. Ask how much does it cost to charter a flight early morning to Adelaide say a few times a week. 2. Add on the operational overheads. 3. Divide cost by anticipated demand. 4. Do a deal 5. Market at appropriate rate.( Too lengthy an explanation required but may be less may be more than cost / numbers plus 10%) 6. Fly people to and from Adelaide.

I know Joseph Stalin stuffed up in a big way in trying to emulate the activities of private enterprise but that doesn’t mean all state intervention is bad. Take the MAIB. But touch wood the shortsighted dickheads will probably sell it tomorrow.

Activity stimulates an economy. You are born, work and then you’re dead. In tourism, which is what we rely upon much more than raping and pillaging the forests, activity means numbers. Sure a few high end tourists are worth a motza of the low rent crowd but not let kid ourselves, we rely, and indeed need the mums and dads. We are a poor second in even this to the Gold Coast, but not that poor.

And that is why the slow strangulation of the air route is important. It really is our life line. The real low rent crowd come by boat. We almost pay to have them here, and in the case of the Sydney boat probably do.

But by and large interstate Tourism arriving by plane hires cars stays in hotel/motels, eats lots, shops, sees and flies back out in about 5 days.

And I think we want as many as we can handle.

So recognising that airfares are regarded as the single most significant contributing factor to tourism can’t we expect our government to do something clever.

That is clever. Clever, like not play into the hands of rapacious Virgin or Jetstar.

Remember, despite the smiles they do not have our best interests a heart, They consider corporate profit as paramount. So dearest minister, cabinet, caucus, whoever is ultimately responsible, if anyone ever is; How would you like to get back to basics and address this concern.

God help me I feel like becoming a politican all over again. Where is Nick Evers when you want him.

James Crotty is a lawyer who, two elections ago, narrowly missed winning a seat in Denison for Labor.