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Adelaide Airport still a shambles
The Adalaide airport fiasco lurched on yesterday as both Qantas and Virgin Blue refused the airport corporations offer of tankers to refuel until the underground fuel system is fixed.
Qantas maintained it would refuse to use the terminal until the fuel system was fixed, saying although it uses tankers at the old terminal, it was too hazardous elsewhere.
“The parking bays and layout are not designed for tanker refuelling,” said Qantas executive general manager airports and catering Grant Fenn.
Exxon Mobil spokesman Alan Bailey says it will be a “while” before the system is clean.
“We’ll be continuing to run ‘the pig’ through the main fuel line across to the terminal and flush it through with jet fuel on a regular basis until such time as the sediment is down to a low enough level that it’s going to be acceptable for use,” he said
Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Jane Lomax-Smith yesterday stressed that both terminals had to be kept in good order.
“Clearly, both airports need to be maintained,” she said.
“We are very happy to talk to them about their cleaning regime but … I expect private companies to pay their own running and maintenance costs.”
“World class? Not even close,” said one airport staffer. “It’s an absolute embarrassment, a complete joke. I mean would this happen in Sydney?
“There is certainly a degree of anger among some passengers.”
As thousands of travellers flooded through the old terminal for the Tour Down Under, another worker said the airconditioning had been “stuffed” for three weeks. “But we’ve been told it’s not getting fixed because we’re moving into the new terminal,” he said.
“Until then, the place is falling apart and filthy: Welcome to SA.”
Adelaide Airport Ltd acting managing director Mark Young said while the company was the landlord of the old terminal, “Qantas is the principal tenant of the building and has responsibility under the terms of its lease to clean and maintain the facilities it uses”.
A Qantas spokesman said cleaning arrangements had not changed. He admitted that closed shops made the terminal look like a building “about to be vacated”, but said the airline’s wait to move into the new terminal was “out of our hands”.
Graham Muldoon
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