International Air Services Commission Regulations (Amendment) 1995 No. 6
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1995 No. 6
Issued by Authority of the Minister for Transport
International Air Services Commission Art 1992
International Air Services Commission Regulations (Amendment)
Subsection 55(1) of the International Air Services Commission Act 1992 (the Act) enables the Governor-General to make regulations required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed.
The International Air Service., Commission Amendment Act 1994 (the Amendment Act) received Royal Assent on 28 November 1994. The Amendment Act refines and streamlines the Commission's processes in recognition of the commercial imperatives under which Australia's scheduled international airlines operate.
To maximise benefits for Australian carriers, which may already be enjoyed by foreign carriers, new subsection 9(2)(c) of the Act now also allows operational decisions to be made by the Secretary in circumstances which may be prescribed by the regulations. This may include circumstances where the Commission has not yet had occasion to allocate the capacity or where the capacity is incidental to that already being operated.
Regulation 2A will allow the Secretary, in certain circumstances, to make decisions affecting existing operational decisions concerning the entitlements of Australia's international carriers operating services to or from Australia by changing temporarily, or in a minor respect, the capacity to which the existing operational decision relates. Those circumstances relate to operational decisions which would allow:
• the operation of small amounts of extra capacity where bilateral arrangements permit certain flexibility in the use of capacity or the manner in which amounts of capacity may be calculated;
• the substitution of different types of aircraft and minor changes in seating and freight-carrying configurations;
• the use of extra capacity permitted to be operated under bilateral arrangements to meet seasonal or other temporary and unusual demands (eg. major events); and
• occasional "drop-ins" en-route to other destinations.