Seven injured in airport smash

[Dave Noble]

Seven people have been injured in a two-vehicle crash at Sydney Airport's Qantas domestic terminal.

A bit more info at

Seven injured in airport smash - Travel - smh.com.au


Dave

 

[dajop]

Sheesh, SMH give us all a break. If this did not involve Qantas, I am sure it would not have been reported. Do we see reports of every near miss involving a bus? I suspect not. Hope the passengers recover, but goodness, people all over the country get sore necks from near misses every single day.

 

[Platy]

Sheesh, SMH give us all a break. If this did not involve Qantas, I am sure it would not have been reported. Do we see reports of every near miss involving a bus? I suspect not. Hope the passengers recover, but goodness, people all over the country get sore necks from near misses every single day.

You may be very right about the timing of such a report, dajob, but I dunno whether it is strictly fair to compare regular (landside) driving with that within the airport perimeter (airside) given issues such as the slow drivng speeds and many inherent additional airside dangers.

There are various driving regulations set by each airport operator, including relatively slow driving speeds, especially within apron areas and within the vicinity of aircraft. All drivers are compelled to attain an airside driving authority (typicaly renewed every 2 years) or be under supervision/escort.

Airside driving safety is a real concern in many airports. At Sydney there may be literally 1,000s (about 7,000 at a guess) of folk licenced to drive airside. Shunts with other vehicles, extremely costly scrapes with aircraft (fix and downtime), spectacular fuel spills (which have happened both at SYD and AKL in recent years) and extremely dangerous unauthorised incursions onto taxiways and runways do all occur with varying frequencies.

In many airside buses passengers stand rather than sit increasing the risk of injury in any incident compared with road-going coaches. Being especially careful driving near such buses is part of appropriate situational awareness and safe airside driving technique.

I often sit in QPs where a view of the apron affords the opportunity to observe frequent rule violations.

IMHO it is a good thing if one or two airside incidents get reported into the public domain so people realise that there are real dangers for workers and passengers alike and the airport operators and attendent leasing companies do not become complacent.

The timing may be unlucky for QF, especially if the driver of the other vehicle was at fault.

 

[dajop]

In many airside buses passengers stand rather than sit increasing the risk of injury in any incident compared with road-going coaches.

The last time I caught a public bus in Australia (which admittedly was some time ago) there were a whole stack of people standing, and lurching all over the place.

Whilst I take your points about airport roads being busy and safety being a real issue - they are for everyone and for every employer who is employing people to drive around. Sure poor driving that causes tail scrapes/fuel spills etc can be expensive, especially if aircraft damage, but don't think out in the real world that accidents are not expensive (an extreme example being the closure of Melbourne's Burnley tunnel for several days.

 

[docjames]

That is not news. For once no hysterical quotes though!

 

[jgm]

When is Sydney airport going to come into the 21st century? Using buses between the international and domestic terminals is the pits - especially when there is a perfectly good train between the two.

 

[serfty]

When is Sydney airport going to come into the 21st century? Using buses between the international and domestic terminals is the pits - especially when there is a perfectly good train between the two.

Hi jgm nice to see you post.

While there does exist a train service, the T3 G1 to/from T1 A/B Emmigration B*s service is far easier to use.

Of course, it would be a lot simpler if the airport's terminal setup was constructed differently. Take MEL for example ...

In any case, the B8s does provide a nice tour for planespotters ...

 

[plrarm]

Any airline can have an unlucky run but there appears to be a pattern developing here. I reckon it started with the proposed "take-over" of Qantas by private equity a couple of years ago. Maybe, attitudes have changed or more pressure is being applied on Qantas staff which is causing the various mishaps we are seeing. I feel safe on Qantas but I'd like to see less safety issues arising

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

especially when there is a perfectly good train between the two.

Perfectly good? I'm not sure how many others would agree with this description.

Also, I don't think $14 one-way is a particularly attractive fare either. I can travel from Canberra to the SYD International terminal by Murray's express bus for $15. And even in expensive Tokyo, the train from T1 to T2 at Narita is only a couple of dollars or so.

Are you advocating that it's OK for us to be ripped off?

 

[NM]

I reckon it started with the proposed "take-over" of Qantas by private equity a couple of years ago.

Yep, that is about when the media scrutiny started.

 

[jgm]

Perfectly good? I'm not sure how many others would agree with this description.

Also, I don't think $14 one-way is a particularly attractive fare either. I can travel from Canberra to the SYD International terminal by Murray's express bus for $15. And even in expensive Tokyo, the train from T1 to T2 at Narita is only a couple of dollars or so.

Are you advocating that it's OK for us to be ripped off?

I didn't talk about the existing service. If SYD was anywhere near a half decent airport, the train would be free & run at least every 5 minutes like HKG or ZRH. I'm just grateful that I don't often have to go anywhere near the place.

 

[dajop]

Perfectly good? I'm not sure how many others would agree with this description.

Also, I don't think $14 one-way is a particularly attractive fare either. I can travel from Canberra to the SYD International terminal by Murray's express bus for $15. And even in expensive Tokyo, the train from T1 to T2 at Narita is only a couple of dollars or so.

Are you advocating that it's OK for us to be ripped off?

Wow!!!! I was going to correct you as I thought the fare was only $4-$5 between the two terminals, but I checked the cityrail website and you are indeed correct. Obviously they don't want people to do this - as that is probably one of the most expensive train journeys (per km) anywhere in the world.

And for that you are likely to get some coughpy, dirty carriage (last time I took the airport rail had one of the really old trains that I used to hate travelling in because they were old - when I lived in Sydney 15 years ago).

 

[Natt]

train service is cheaper is you are transferring between flights

From the sydney aiport website:

Airport Link offers a $14.00 (one way, per person) transfer ticket for passengers transferring between T1 International and T2/T3 Domestic Terminals. If you are transferring between flights, a discounted fare of $5.60 applies to the inter-terminal transfer (proof of travel will be required – boarding pass, e-ticket, travel itinerary). The journey takes only 2 minutes and there are frequent services.

I can't post the link unfortunately (under 10 posts :shock

Qantas also got in the news v recently for a failure of their weather radar too